T20 World Cup (Men’s), 2024

Revision as of 15:41, 6 July 2024

Bangladesh loses to India

Dwaipayan Datta, June 23, 2024: The Times of India

Scoreboard, India vs Bangladesh, T20 World Cup, 2024
From: Dwaipayan Datta, June 23, 2024: The Times of India

Once the niceties of the two most beautiful national anthems by the same poet were done on the faraway shores of Antigua, it was on India to take charge of their Super8s group and all but seal a semis spot.


From openers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to cavaliers Rishabh Pant and Shivam Dube, everybody contributed. Jasprit Bumrah (2/13), too, was his usual miserly self as Bangladesh huffed and puffed to a 50-run loss.


But as India all but shut out Bangladesh’s hopes in this T20 World Cup, it was Hardik Pandya who put all his troubles to the side to stand up and deliver. Hardik has been slowly gathering momentum through the World Cup after a horrendous IPL, and on Saturday morning at the hot and sticky Vivian Richard Stadium, the allrounder came to the party.


His 27-ball 50 was the cornerstone of India’s 196-5, a score big enough to notch up the easy win against a team that doesn’t have the firepower in its batting. Coming into bowl within the Powerplay, Hardik used the slower ball to remove the dangerous opener Liton Das caught at deep square leg, that halted Bangladesh’s improbable chase.


Earlier, Hardik had come in to bat with the score on 108-4 in the 12th over, the entire top-order back in the hut. One more wicket at that stage could have made things slightly tricky for India, but Hardik ensured that nothing on those lines would happen.


Clearing his front leg, Hardik played the shots that made himself such a menace over the years as Shivam Dube (34 off 24 balls) came up with a useful contribution towards the end. The 53- run stand that he had with Dube was the right injection at the right time, the colossal sixes off the left-hander’s bat telling the world how deep India can bat. And even after Dube got out, Hardik connected a few strong hits as India notched up the highest score in a T20 game on this ground.


One could see that the Bangladesh batters lacked the belief to make a match of it. Still Tanzid Hasan and Nazmul Hosain Shanto did make an effort, till left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (3/19) came into his own.


India have decided to play him in the West Indies because of the variety that he brings to the table and the help that he gets from these tracks. Kuldeep’s first wicket on Saturday was that of left-hander Tazid Hasan Tamim, who failed to read Kuldeep’s googly to fall leg-before.


Towhid Hridoy, too, missed a sweep off another one that turned in to get trapped right in front. Shakib Al Hasan fell soon enough and Kuldeep’s sumptuous spell of spin bowling was definitely the second highlight of the day.


The Bangladesh batters failed to create any momentum off Kuldeep and the game was over before it was actually over.
Much before that, it was the two superstars of Indian cricket — Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli — who gave glimpses that big scores could be just around the corner.


While Rohit (23 off 11 balls) looked to give himself just that little bit of room and play over the top, Virat (37 off 28 balls) seemed in beautiful touch during the course of his cameo.
On a big ground, 39 off 3.4 is a good start and by the time Rohit got out, after being put in rather surprisingly by the Bangladesh captain, the platform had been set. The fans would have liked Virat to score a little more than what he got, but the super batter isn’t exactly bothered about the number of runs that he is getting. It’s all in a team’s cause and even though it was a moment to remember for medium-pacer Tanzim Shakib when he got Virat bowled, the Indian engine had already started chugging.

India defeats S Africa, wins Cup

June 30, 2024: The Times of India

➤ India score 15 off the 1st over as Kohli races to 14 off 5 balls, but then tumble to 34/3 
 ➤ Kohli goes into a shell as India rebuild, eventually gets to 50 off 48 balls — his slowest T20 half-ton ever. Doesn’t hit a boundary from the 4th over to the 18th 
➤ Promoted to No. 5, Axar Patel responds with a useful 47 off 31 balls but is brilliantly run out by SA keeper Quinton de Kock 
➤ Shivam Dube contributes 27 off 16 balls even as Kohli accelerates at the death before falling for a 59-ball 76 — 1 more than his aggregate of 75 runs in 7 matches before the final 
 ➤ India score 42 runs in the last 3 overs to finish at 176/7, the highest total in a T20 WC final 
➤ Bumrah and Arshdeep strike to reduce SA to 12/2. Tristan Stubbs and de Kock counter-attack, and Heinrich Klaasen slams 52 off 33 balls. Needing 30 to win off 30 balls with 6 wickets in hand, SA seem set for victory. But Hardik Pandya dismisses Klaasen and India begin to extract victory from the jaws of defeat 
 ➤ Bumrah (2/18) and Arshdeep (2/21) bowl superbly at the death. Pandya, booed throughout the IPL, has to defend 16 in the final over 
➤ Suryakumar Yadav pulls off an unbelievable catch to dismiss David Miller. Rabada swings lustily but it’s a Bridge(town) too far for SA 
 Fitting Farewell For Coach Dravid 
Rahul Dravid, who never won a World Cup in a distinguished career as a player, finally bagged a title in his last outing as Team India coach. He leaves with a superb track record: 
 SKY Is Not The Limit 
Catches win matches, goes the maxim. This one won the World Cup. With SA needing 16 in 6 balls, Miller hit Hardik for what looked like a sure sixer till Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) ran full tilt, grabbed the ball, lobbed it into the air as he went over the ropes, and then stepped back to complete a catch that became an instant legend. A couple of inches literally made all the difference for India and See also

Details

Dwaipayan Datta, June 30, 2024: The Times of India

Scoreboard, India vs South Africa, T20 World Cup Finals, 2024
From: Dwaipayan Datta, June 30, 2024: The Times of India

Bridgetown (Barbados) : There was a new sunrise for Indian cricket on the banks of the North Atlantic Ocean. All the agony of losing at the final hurdle is a thing of the past. The balm for years of hurt — that reached its crescendo on Nov 19 last in Ahmedabad when India lost to Australia in the final of the 50-over World Cup — has been provided by a group of brave-hearts who refused to give up.


In lifting the T20 World Cup after 17 long years, India gave Virat Kohli the ultimate T20 farewell as he announced his retirement from the format while accepting the Man of the Match award.


There can be a million moments that you’ll keep talking about all your lives, but the one that will never be forgotten is Suryakumar Yadav’s outstanding catch off the first ball of the 20th over. South Africa needed 16 runs off the last over and Hardik Pandya was the desperate choice. A yorker gone wrong had been hit in the air and it seemed to be going for six, but only until Suryakumar completed a catch that will be remembered as the most memorable, after the one taken by Sreesanth to send Misbah-ul-Haq home off the last ball of the 2007 final.


It was a battle of nerves after that and Hardik, who has gone through so many upheavals in his life recently, kept landing every ball on the spot. As Keshav Maharaj’s last shot went nowhere, Hardik just sat down on the pitch with tears in his eyes. He had redeemed himself and so had Team India.


It wasn’t just the last over. Hardik had the ball in his hand when Heinrich Klaasen and Miller were going great guns. All South Africa needed were 26 off 25 balls. Jasprit Bumrah’s over had been negotiated, the flags were being folded, the journalists were switching their laptops off. Hardik bowled one slightly wide and Klaasen, who probably believed the World Cup was theirs by then, tried a punch that got a nick and went to the wicketkeeper. And that’s where the infamous South African choke started setting in.


A team that had played with remarkable positivity until then started thinking about losing the game. Once such emotions start creeping in, there’s a man in the Indian lineup who can simply hammer you. In came Bumrah for the 18th over and Marco Jansen’s stumps were shattered. South Africa managed virtually nothing from those six balls and that turned the game. South Africa stuttered and stumbled, as they always do. 
And now let’s talk about a man who might not have played this game if the world had had its way. Captain Rohit Sharma had said before the final that Kohli was saving his best for the final. And how the ‘King’ kept his word!


Things had gone wrong for India after they were reduced to 45-3 in the first Powerplay. Kohli (76 off 59 balls), after the first three boundaries that he hit in the first over, struggled to force the pace in the middle. But he didn’t throw his wicket away and held one end up as Axar Patel (47 off 31 balls) played an innings of quality.


At a time when left-arm spinner Maharaj was looking to get on top, Axar took on the slog sweep and attacked the longer boundary, clearing it with ease. Axar and Kohli ran well between the wickets and the partnership of 72 was central to India reaching a score of respectability. Axar was looking for quite a few more, but a moment’s lapse of concentration allowed Quinton de Kock to take an aim at the stumps and break the stumps at the far end.