IND vs SA | India ends 11-year drought with brilliant defence in hall of fame final

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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‌India created history by clinching the T20 World Cup silverware after a 17-year gap as they beat South Africa by X runs in the final. Gritty knocks from Virat Kohli and Axar Patel were matched by Klaasen’s explosive fifty but India's death bowling prowess eventually proved decisive in  Barbados.

The toss favoured the Indian captain Rohit Sharma in the grand finale and the decision to bat first was backed with five fours in the first eight balls before Keshav Maharaj induced a double wicket second over. With Kagiso Rabada operating from the other end, Suryakumar Yadav also fell prey, leaving India stranded at 45/3 after six overs. Being pushed on the back foot, Axar Patel accompanied Virat Kohli and steadied the ship with a measured approach. The duo built a solid stand and cruised the India scorecard to 98/3 in 13 overs, building a 72-run stand in the process. Unfortunately, the alliance came to a halt when Axar was dismissed due to a run-out mishap and departed scoring 47 off 31 deliveries. Furthermore, Kohli and Dube carried forward the Men in Blue batting with a resilient partnership of 57 runs. Unfortunately, Kohli departed after playing a heroic innings of 76 runs off 59 deliveries with the scorecard at 163/5. With Dube’s 27 off 16 towards the end, India posted a formidable score of 176/7 in 20 overs.  

In reply, South Africa had a disastrous start as Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Reeza Hendricks in the second over, followed by Aiden Markram departing off Arshdeep Singh in the third over with the scorecard reeling at 12/2. However, Tristan Stubbs and de Kock built a 44-run stand taking the scorecard to 62/2 in eight overs. As the duo was slowly paving the way, Axar Patel scalped the important wicket of Stubbs in the ninth over. However, de Kock’s power and Heinrich Klaasen’s class contributed a stable 36 runs, cruising the scorecard to 101/3 in 12 overs. Subsequently, Arshdeep Singh came into the attack and removed the left-hander before David Miller and Klaasen unleashed 38 runs in the next couple of overs. With a run-a-ball equation in the last five overs, Bumrah’s four-run 16th over paved the way for Klaasen’s dismissal in the 17th over, curtailing the equation down to 22 required off the last three overs. Subsequently, Bumrah cleaned up Jansen in the 18th over and Arshdeep bowled tight to leave 16 runs to defend for Hardik Pandya in the last over with Miller at one end. While Miller fell on the first ball, courtesy of a brilliant catch from Suryakumar Yadav, four byes curtailed the equation down to eleven needed off the last three balls. The all-rounder delivered under pressure with the wicket of Rabada, eventually winning the game by seven runs and ending eleven-year drought of ICC trophies.

They knew!!

He deserves it

It's done!!

World changes in a match

Likely

Slow!

Admission day

So sad

Based on true events

Ended it

Massive difference

Both Bapu's rocked it

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