T20 World Cup: India glorious

T20 World Cup: India glorious Premium

In 2024, the emotions were raw, visceral, visible. In 2026, there was calmness and poise. The contrast couldn’t have been starker.

There was a compelling reason for the Class of 2024, under Rohit Sharma, to celebrate their dramatic seven-run triumph over South Africa in the final of the T20 World Cup in uninhibited fashion. Just in isolation, it was an extraordinary jailbreak. India appeared out for the count after a 24-run 15th over from Axar Patel that left the South Africans with a straightforward target of 30 off 30 deliveries. With six wickets standing, the batting side was the odds-on favourite; the only way a reversal in fortunes was possible was through an extraordinary, otherworldly bowling display that also needed, certainly needed, a collective batting brain-fade.

India kept up their end of the bargain, through the magnificent Jasprit Bumrah and his admirable pace-bowling comrades-in-arms, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya. South Africa kept up theirs too, allowing the fear of success – yes, there really is some such thing – to leave them with addled brains and leaden feet. When victory was the easier, more inviting option, South Africa chose to embrace defeat. They were driven towards that result by India, energised by the dismissal of the marauding Heinrich Klaasen, but the victors will be the first to concede that they couldn’t have done it on their own, not without the generosity of the Proteas.

Rohit, prone on the Kensington Oval turf in the beautiful Barbadian capital of Bridgetown, pounded his right palm on the grass, an outpouring of relief and delight and vindication and redemption. His predecessor as captain, Virat Kohli, struggled to hold back the tears after playing a crucial knock that would have counted for little had it not been for the end result. Pandya, Rohit’s deputy, made no attempt at affected machismo, allowing the tears to roll down his cheeks unchecked as he reflected on a difficult few months triggered by his elevation as captain of Mumbai Indians, at the expense of the popular Rohit, who had led the franchise to five IPL crowns.

T20 World Cup final: A red-letter day for Suryakumar’s Men in Blue

And then, of course, there was the ghost of seven months previous, always perched on the shoulder, always a painful reminder of what could have been. Seven months before they sang the consolatory redemption song, Rohit’s fabulous band had come unstuck on the grandest stage of all, the final of the 50-over World Cup. India entered the tournament as the team to beat, to emulate the side of 2011 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni which justified favouritism on its way to becoming the first team to win the World Cup on home turf. They played with flair and imagination and creativity and chutzpah, sweeping all-comers in extraordinarily breathtaking fashion. They didn’t just win matches, they annihilated opponents with their daring and courage, with their aggression and depth.

The Narendra Modi Stadium, everyone was convinced, would be the platform for their coronation. But sport seldom encourages fairytales, and so it was that, inspired by Travis Head, Pat Cummins’ men completely silenced a massive pro-India home crowd, conjuring a six-wicket victory that plunged a nation into despondency and despair.

Rahul Dravid was set to walk away into the coaching sunset at the end of the World Cup, until Rohit picked up his phone and talked to the older man, convincing him to stay on till the T20 World Cup. Dravid readily agreed; it was almost as if he was waiting for the call, because he too felt there was unfinished business to take care of. India did that in grand style in the Americas, first emerging unscathed from the horrible surfaces at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York’s Eisenhower Park, then bossing the Super Eights and the knockouts in the Caribbean with their carefree, yet hardly careless, brand of cricket.

Even in 20-over cricket, batters win matches but it’s the bowlers who fashion trophy triumphs. India had one of the greatest of all time, Bumrah, to fall back on, a luxury Suryakumar used with gratitude, but also smarts and intelligence. | Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

You could therefore understand the visible show of emotion that Saturday afternoon in Bridgetown. You could almost relate to it, having watched first-hand the home campaign first unfold and then unravel spectacularly. In a way, you rode the same roller-coaster as the players and the support staff even though the stakes were a lot higher for them than for anyone else. After all, there were several members of the vanquished side of 2023 in the 2024 T20 squad, haunted by the ugly baggage of the immediate past. Hence the letting go of pent-up feelings, a sense of justice having finally been served.

Suryakumar Yadav’s band of brothers didn’t carry that baggage. They were practically unaccustomed to defeat. From the eleven that took the field for Sunday night’s final against New Zealand, only the captain himself and his greatest weapon, Bumrah, had played in the fateful title clash of 2023. The rest had yet to endure the harshest of heartbreaks. To them, winning had been commonplace, almost second nature. So why should a 96-run romp in the final of the biggest T20 tournament in the world feel any different?

And so, when Abhishek Sharma had Jacob Duffy caught at long-on by Tilak Varma at 10.43 p.m., as the stadium erupted and crackers went off in different parts of a grateful, jubilant nation, there was a sense of eerie calmness. It wasn’t so much mission accomplished as normal service restored. Agreed, it was a World Cup final and therefore victory was more special than usual, but there was no outlandish show of emotion, no over-the-top celebration, no routine out of the ordinary captured for posterity by omniscient still and motion cameras.

India were expected to win. They expected to win themselves. And win they did. So what’s the big deal, eh? Why the fuss and the fanfare? Why the surprise, why the overwhelming delight in the stands and on the streets?

That doesn’t mean Suryakumar’s side had to just turn up to win. Playing at home in a tournament as high-profile as a World Cup is a double-edged sword. India playing at home in a tournament as high-profile as a World Cup is a multi-edged sword. A sea of people, well meaning and well intentioned, constantly keep reminding the players of the imperativeness of keeping the cup at home. The ceaseless clamour and weight of expectations can be oppressive for a bunch of young men trying to eke out a livelihood but also aware that in that process, they have been installed as heroes and role models, that they carry the hopes of a billion even if that is not what they signed up for.

It can be daunting, this tremendous burden, but as Suryakumar has insisted more than once, it is a burden only when you allow it to be. India relished being installed the favourites. They basked in the fact that everyone expected them to go all the way. They did so not out of arrogance or complacency, but in the quiet confidence that they were a step and a half ahead of the best of the rest if they played at full potential. They did so because they hadn’t lost a bilateral series between the two World Cups. They did so because they had carved a scything run through the Asia Cup draw in the UAE in September, when they overcame Pakistan thrice, on three consecutive Sundays. They did so because they knew that the sum of their parts was greater than the majestic whole, that they had all bases covered, that they could buck history and patterns and trends and go where no team had gone before.

India were pushed at various stages, starting from their opening Group A fixture when they were reduced to 77 for six. By unfashionable, unfancied, unintimidating United States. Imagine that. Millions wondering if 300 was on the cards and then waking up to the reality that even 100 appeared doubtful. It needed an innings of character and commonsense, of controlled aggression and vivid imagination, from the captain to pull the fat out of the fire, but as they swept Namibia, Pakistan and the Netherlands aside without moving beyond third gear, hope grew.

Until it was shattered by South Africa, muscular and motivated, determined to slay the demons of 2024. Suddenly, after a draining 76-run drubbing, cracks started to make themselves felt. Two left-handed openers against off-spin with the new ball was beginning to look like a bad match-up, so mid-tournament, India changed tack. They made structural changes to the batting order, bringing Sanju Samson in to partner the horribly off-colour Abhishek Sharma, using Ishan Kishan at No. 3 and pushing Tilak Varma into a finishing role that he wasn’t too accustomed to. These weren’t steps born out of desperation – necessity, sure, but not desperation – so much as tactical in nature. How wonderfully they came off.

Samson, who had played himself out of contention with a string of low scores, showcased a long-awaited coming of age with efforts of 97 not out (final Super Eight tie) and identical scores of 89 in the two knockouts. Kishan was unfettered and uninhibited, Tilak loved the challenge of a new position that needed him to bat with freedom from the off. The Indian batting muscle, which had atrophied during the 111-run capitulation against South Africa, resurfaced at the crunch, covering itself in glory after topping 250 thrice in a row while batting first at the business end of the tournament. 253 in the semifinal and 255 in the final came on the back of a tournament-high 256 in the first of four must-win games, against Zimbabwe in Chennai.

Even in 20-over cricket, batters win matches but it’s the bowlers who fashion trophy triumphs. India had one of the greatest of all time, Bumrah, to fall back on, a luxury Suryakumar used with gratitude, but also smarts and intelligence. They also had Varun Chakaravarthy, the No. 1 bowler when the tournament started and who was unplayable in the Group A stage, only to go off the boil subsequently. Even at less than half tilt, Chakaravarthy was good enough to finish with a competition-high 14 scalps, the same as Bumrah, who saved his best for last with four for 15 in the final. Arshdeep, Pandya and Axar all chipped in without attracting the oohs and the aahs that were reserved for Bumrah, while Shivam Dube did the difficult tasks with aplomb, never more so than in the semifinal against England when he closed out the game after being left with 30 to defend in the final over.

A triumph of spirit, of team spirit, of belief in themselves and each other, this title will be celebrated long and hard. Not because it was unexpected, but it was all too expected. And nothing is more satisfying than living up to expectations, especially if they are internal.

Published - March 09, 2026 11:47 pm IST

Source: TheHindu
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