This is it, South Africa need 16 runs off the last over for world cup glory, Hardik Pandya's typical nonchalance is just overspilling with nerves, as he runs in, ironically, carrying the boos and hopes of a billion fans, with the horrid few months that preceded the world cup at the back of his mind, eyeing a world cup title. David Miller lifts it up, watching the ball fly towards the straight on camera from my TV, it is looking like a six, but there is Suryakumar Yadav running in from long-off, he catches the ball, throws it in, and catches it again as he realizes what he has just accomplished and runs towards the team. David Miller cannot believe it. He’s gone. South Africa now need 16 in less than an over with no proper batter left.
Hardik Pandya and India have two good deliveries between them and world cup glory. And as Nortje chips it over mid-wicket and the ball scampers on to Arshdeep, Hardik and Rohit fall to the ground, Rohit is punching the ground, still processing what the team has just done, and Hardik is in tears, beaming with joy, and as players come and hug him, the waterworks keep going. Rohit is like a magnet, every player and support staff run to him, he is still on the ground, still processing what has just happened. As his teammates surround him, he realizes this isn’t a dream, this is it, his team has won the world cup. This isn’t an ordinary tournament win, this is a team winning it all at the biggest stage, this is a team doing what they haven’t been able to for the last decade, this is a team making amends for that nightmarish evening on the 19th of November last year. This is Rohit Sharma’s dream materializing to reality. This is Rahul Dravid’s first world cup. This is the first time the current generation is witnessing a world cup win. This is the sound of a billion prayers coming to fruition.
As emotions poured through in the Kensington Oval, it started raining in Barbados, as if the heavens too had popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate this team’s victory. Emotions were always going to be there if India won the world cup, but perhaps not of this magnitude, players cried and fell to the ground because of what their team had achieved over the last 5 overs of the game. After Heinrich Klaasen smashed Axar Patel for 24 runs in the 15th over, South Africa needed 30 runs in 30 balls. A lot of houses across India would’ve shut their TV off. This game was heading towards another heartbreak for the Indians, and miraculously South Africa were marching towards a historic win, but the Indian Cricket Team had other plans.
With 5 overs to go, Bumrah had 2 overs left, the plan would’ve been simple for the Proteas. Play Bumrah out, and target the remaining 3 overs, and with the target being a run-a-ball chase, it was the perfect plan. But, that is where Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya took charge. With no surprise, Bumrah only conceded 4 runs in the 16th over, bowling some phenomenal cutters and not bowling in Klaasen’s arc. With 26 needed in 24, it was still South Africa’s game to lose, and out of nowhere, Klaasen tried to feel a wide cutter that caught his edge and traveled straight to Pant. Hardik Pandya had conjured up a wicket when India needed it the most. It was the result of some fine captaincy and phenomenal observation from Hardik, Klaasen had been struggling to find runs off wide deliveries off India’s seamers, and that is where he got dismissed. As soon as Pant caught that, millions of living rooms would have beamed with joy, shouting at the TV, jumping, waving the tricolor flag.
This was the start of the brilliance India displayed over the last 5 overs to win a game that had already been lost. This made that win even more special. India had won the world cup, but that too in an emphatic way, defeating an opposition that had been better for the majority of the game. Right from that Virat Kohli - Axar Patel partnership to that 19th over from Arshdeep, India had won a game they were never supposed to.
Whilst the players were jumping and dancing in Barbados, the streets of India were flooded with people, out with the tricolor in their hands, bursting firecrackers, dancing, singing, screaming. This was past midnight in India, and yet people were dancing as if it was noon. Videos from planes, trains, and buses showed people clapping, chanting, and screaming to the top of their voices. Nothing quite brings a country together like a world cup does. Especially a world cup after 13 heartbreaking years. In a country such as India where everyone is different, where languages change every 50 kilometers, cultures change every 100 kilometers, where the parliament elections that bring about conflicts and quarrels have just ended, everyone has forgotten who they are, what they believe in, what state they are from, what language they speak, what gods do they pray to. All everyone knows is India has just won a world cup, the only language they know consists of “INDIA! INDIA!”, and the only gods they pray to are those 11 guys in the caribbean.
Whilst songs from the movie “83” and “Chak de! India” echo in my ears, I see Jammy Sir screaming, dancing, throwing his hands up and down with the world cup trophy in his hand. For a man who has been an icon of Indian cricket, for someone who has inspired generations of players, and for someone who couldn’t win a world cup as a player, he has done it as a coach. In his final assignment, Jammy Sir has won India the world cup, with a team no one believed could, and that is the only time you would ever see Rahul Dravid so emphatic and animated.
Fast forward to the team walking around the ground with the tricolor in their hands, thanking the fans, showing off the newest piece of silverware they have earned. At this point, I have wiped away my tears, and calmed down a little bit. But as I see Rohit with the trophy, with his daughter on his shoulders, happy as ever, I shed tears again. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma pose together for the cameras, holding the world cup, with the tricolor fluttering behind them, the waterworks begin once again. That was my childhood in a picture. That was modern Indian cricket in a picture. Two modern stalwarts of cricket for India, those who have inspired this generation, have retired from T20Is, winning the world cup for the country in their last dance. How can someone who has watched them grow from young batting sensations as a child, to leaders of the sport as an adult not cry. This is a massive moment, not just for Indian cricket, but for world cricket. Kohli and Rohit are statistically the best T20I batters the game has ever seen. And in their own ways, they brought out their best one final time to realize their dream, to win the world cup.
It is going to take some time for me to view this game analytically. The win still hasn’t quite sunk in. Everytime I open social media and see a world cup post, I sit in absolute disbelief of the team defending 30 runs in 30 balls. To put it into context, teams that were in a similar position have lost only 5 times in 19 years of T20Is. 19 YEARS! And this is the first time something like this has happened in a WORLD CUP FINAL! This wasn’t cricket that we saw, that wasn’t bowling that we saw, it was sorcery, it was an enigma, it was wizardry, it was magic. The English language doesn’t quite have enough adjectives to describe that comeback.
As Rohit Sharma later said in the post-match press conference, this was written in fate, this was what that heart-wrenching November 19th night was leading this team to. In his final game as T20I captain, Rohit Sharma has left an unparalleled legacy for the team. An unparalleled path to the future for the current flag-bearers of Indian cricket to embark on. And as he leaves behind a format, he keeps his promise, and hoists the Indian tricolor in bridgetown, fluttering, waving in the wind for long after the finals, forever spell bounding the Kensington Oval to be the venue where cricket saw magic unfold, where 11 players conjured up a miracle to break their side's doomed curse, to break through those shackles, to become world champions, once again.
Goosebumps... Emotional