Shocking all the naysayers, the team swept the World Cup trophy in Barbados—in a joyous seven-run victory that reminded us all that is wonderful about Indian cricket. It also reminded us why staging cricket tournaments away from India may be a good thing.
Researched by: Raghav Bikhchandani
A recap of the highlights
Basic deets: India beat South Africa by seven runs in a thrilling final in Barbados on Saturday—ending a very long trophy drought. The last T20 World Cup win for the men’s team was in 2007—and the last big win we scored in any format was the Champions Trophy in 2013.
There’s hardly any point in doing a match report on a Monday morning. Here’s some of the excellent moments from the match—just in case you missed it:
One: A brilliant medley of Virat boundaries—from his 76-run knock off 59 balls.
Two: The two deliveries that sealed our victory. Hardik Pandya dismissing Heinrich Klaasen—who looked ready to write our epitaph:
Jasprit Bumrah’s stunner that took out Marco Jansen:
Three: SKY’s acrobatic and controversial catch in the final over—when SA needed 16 runs. It is either the greatest catch ever—or a bad call by the third umpire. Did he flick the boundary rope? Decide for yourself:
Four: And, of course, the winning moment:
Our personal fave is this celebratory Ro-Ro moment set to professional wrestler Ric Flair’s walkout music—the theme of the classic film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.
PS: For all the Mumbai Indians haters—who were making a big deal of the Hardik-Rohit rivalry—they literally kissed and made up:)
Also squelched: Any talk of any Virat-Rohit bad blood. Victory does wonders for the team spirit:
Six: If you needed a reminder why Rahul Dravid is the classiest act in Indian cricket: He sent Rohit to field the press conference after the match. When we lost in November, he chose to go out there to face the flak. No wonder the team loves him:
Seven: Indians everywhere lost their mind. These are the lunatics outside Times Square—during the winning moment.
These are the lunatics in Wembley in the UK:
Eight: We loved all the dads who brought their kids to the field. That’s Jasprit Bumrah:
And that’s Rohit:
Nine: Let’s spare a thought for the South Africans—who were unlucky once again. This match was dubbed the battle of the chokers. SA hasn’t won a World Cup ever—so in a sense they had loads more to lose:
Why this trophy matters
Of course, any trophy matters—to the Indian cricket fan. But this was extra special for a number of reasons.
Farewell, friend: It marked the end of an era—for the great players who built India’s explosive T20 game. It was the last T20 international for Virat Kohli—who led the under-19 team to a World Cup win in 2008. This picture speaks volumes for his contribution to the sport:
It was Dravid’s last match as coach—which made us tear up for a whole ‘nother reason:
Rohit Sharma and Ravinder Jadeja are hanging up their T20 boots, as well. It marks the dawn of a new era—of coach Gautam Gambhir and likely captain Hardik Pandya—who is finally getting mad love after the public whipping during IPL.
A win, finally: Victory is always sweeter after a long drought. This one was looong:
- We lost to Sri Lanka in the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup—and never again reached the final until this year.
- Australia dominated us in the semifinals of the 2015 ODI World Cup, and New Zealand did the same in the 2019 semifinals.
- We lost the Champions Trophy to Pakistan in the 2017 final.
- We also stumbled in the World Test Championship finals in 2021 against New Zealand and in 2023 against Australia.
- The most recent heartbreak: Being walloped by Australia in front of 100,000 fans in Ahmedabad in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Kapil Dev offered this devastating assessment in 2022:
I will not go into the details and slam them because these are the same players who have gotten us a lot of respect in the past but yes, we can call them chokers. That's okay. There is no denying it—after coming so close, they choke.
Quote to note: At the post-game presser, Rohit was blunt about his desperation for a win:
I wanted this badly. It's very hard to put it in words because at that moment, I don't want to say what I was thinking and what was going in my mind, but it was a very emotional moment personally for me… I was very desperate for this in my life. So happy that we eventually crossed the line this time.
He loved the trophy so much, he literally slept with it lol!
Behold the might of the BCCI
The World Cup was also testimony to the power of the Indian cricket board—and the market.
The perfectly Indian schedules: The BCCI has used the sheer size of our market to dominate the ICC. The Council has often been reduced to rubber-stamp in many cases—as was apparent in the 2023 ODI World Cup. The clearest sign of its clout was the schedule. Back in 2015, the ODI World Cup in Australia-New Zealand was played either during sleeping hours or working hours in India.
But the mighty Indian fan no longer needs to sacrifice his sleep. Every India match began at 8 pm—so that Disney Star could get full paisa vasool for the $3 billion it paid for the ICC’s media rights—90% of its earnings. In comparison, Aussies had to wake up at 3 am for their match against England during the group stage.
Bechara Sri Lanka: was literally treated as a poor relative. Most of Sri Lanka’s matches were day-night affairs—as in, early morning back home. The team was also forced to play their four group matches in four far flung venues—New York, Texas, Florida, St Vincent. Sri Lankan bowler Maheesh Theekshana rightfully complained:
So unfair for us, we have to leave every day [after the match] because we are playing [at] four different venues…it's unfair. The flight we took from Florida, from Miami, we had to wait like eight hours in the airport to get the flight. And we came around. We were supposed to leave at 8pm but we got the flight at 5am. It's really unfair for us, but it doesn't matter when you play [on the field].
Speaking of money: BCCI Secretary Jay Shah announced an eye-watering Rs 1.25 billion (125 crore) prize for the Indian team.
Speaking of saffron: As we all remember, the 2023 ODI World Cup made a spectacle of jingoistic nationalism. During the 2023 Asia Cup, the loudspeakers blared ‘Ram Siya Ram’—as they did during the India-Pakistan World Cup match in Ahmedabad.
We were mercifully spared such displays of piety this time around—apart from the brief controversy over an orange-sleeved uniform:
Point to note: In case you think this is an India-only problem, there is simmering anxiety over far-right German nationalism during the Euros.
The bottomline: Maybe World Cup victories are best enjoyed on distant shores. Good manners and good luck—what’s not to like?
Reading list
There aren’t a lot of analytical pieces on the win—just throwaway curations on viral tweets etc. ESPNCricinfo has two good pieces: a colourful match report by Andrew Fidel Fernando summarising the proceedings in Barbados and Sidharth Monga’s lovely behind the scenes take on the win. On Good Areas, Jarrod Kimber offers an in-depth analysis on the issues with the New York pitch and the ICC’s planning headaches with hosting the tournament in the US. For the 2024 Wisden Almanack, Sharda Ugra wrote a scathign piece on how the BJP has used saffron politics to tinker with Indian cricket.
