T20 World Cup: ‘Greatest catch of all time’ helps India make history as USA announce themselves on world stage

CNN
—

Colour and noise filled the streets of India on Saturday night as the country celebrated its cricket team’s spectacular triumph at the men’s T20 World Cup, beating South Africa by just seven runs in the final.

Photos and videos show people waving flags – some on the roofs of cars stuck in traffic – raising their arms in celebration, dancing and waving sparklers.

For a nation obsessed with cricket, where teams are made up of national celebrities and the sport is played everywhere, it has been a long wait of 13 years without a World Cup trophy.

India are still one of the best teams in the world, across all formats of the sport – Test, one-day and T20 – but they have had a year marked by disappointments, losing to Australia in the World Test Championship final and, more importantly, in the ODI World Cup on home soil.

And it was the manner in which India won, as much as the victory itself, that sparked such ecstatic celebrations. Anchored by talisman Virat Kohli, she had posted a total of 176-7 – the highest ever in a men’s T20 World Cup final – but South Africa were undeterred and, with just five overs to play, it looked like the Proteas might achieve the impossible.

It took a brilliant spell of death bowling from Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, as well as Suryakumar Yadav, winning what social media users immediately dubbed “the greatest catch ever”, to seal the victory. historic victory for India, who became the first team to win the tournament. without losing a single match.

Almost immediately, Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Kohli announced their retirement from T20 cricket, able to retire from the format with a trophy in hand at last.

“It has to be the best moment of his career,” Rohit said, as per the ICC, when asked if it was the best moment of his successful career. “It’s only because I was desperate to win. All the runs I have scored in all these years, it counts, but I am not very attached to statistics and all that.

“Winning matches for India, winning trophies for India – that’s what I look forward to every moment.”

It was also the last match for outgoing head coach Rahul Dravid, who paid tribute to the “fight within the team” as they came back from a seemingly losing position.

“I just couldn’t be more proud of this team,” he said, according to ESPN Cricinfo. “The way we had to fight through tough situations and again today, I think it was a big testament to the fight within the team. Losing three wickets in the first six (overs), to be in the kind of position we were in with 30 balls to play. But the boys kept fighting, they kept believing.

While India emerged victorious in the Men’s T20 World Cup, USA and Afghanistan also shone in the tournament, announcing themselves on the world stage.

The United States, playing in their first ever Men’s T20 World Cup, pulled off one of the sport’s biggest upsets by shocking Pakistan with a dramatic Super Over win in the group stage. The tournament co-host even pushed India to come close and qualify for the next round of the competition – the Super Eights.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan reached the semi-finals for the first time ever, surprising Australia for the first time in their history in an international cricket match and capping a feat that sparked celebrations in the streets of the country .

Ultimately, Afghanistan were beaten by an impressive South Africa in the semi-finals, exiting the T20 World Cup alongside defending champions England, whose often listless tournament ended against India in the semi-finals.