India 176 for 7 (Kohli 76, Axar 47, Maharaj 2-23, Nortje 2-26) vs South Africa 169 for 8 (Klaasen 52, Bumrah 2-18, Arshdeep 2-20, Hardik 3-20) by seven runs
Rohit Sharma was forced to go to the best bowler in the world when he otherwise would have saved Bumrah for the later overs. Bumrah did not break this partnership, the batsmen never dared to compete with him. But they broke the lead of Klaasen and Miller. He scored only four runs in that over.
But the biggest blow came at the beginning of the 17th over. After the flow of play slowed further due to Rishabh Pant’s apparent knee complaint, Hardik bowled a wide line outside off and took the edge to Klaasen, Pant happily snatching the chance.
Still, Miller was there, although he could not hit a single four in the rest of that over.
Then Bumrah came back and bowled several ripsnorters in the last over of another tournament which he has dominated. With one of those magic balls, a wicked in-seamer, he breached the defense of South Africa’s last recognized batsman, Marco Jansen, and touched the leg stump.
The dream-killing blow came next. 16 runs were needed in the last over bowled by Hardik. Miller tried to lift the first ball, a wide full toss, straight across the boundary. But he couldn’t quite connect, and Suryakumar, running all the way along the rope, his feet only centimeters inside, caught the ball, bounced it as it crossed the boundary line, then took the catch while running. Completed as he jumped back. There was tremendous joy on the field, in the stands and enthusiastic celebration by the Indian players.
South Africa’s batsmen, Nos. 8, 9 and 10, did not manage to dismiss Hardik, except for one outside edge which flew by for four runs.
When Hardik gave India a seven-run win, the bowler dropped to his knees in relief, his teammates cheered and the crowd, which was largely supporting India, cheered. His team became world champion again after 13 years.
Bumrah’s brilliant performance in the final
On a flat track in Barbados, Bumrah bowled two unplayable balls, giving him two wickets – both bowled. The first of these was better. It was one of the best in the tournament, and arguably one of the best ever in a final. Leaned towards Reeza Hendricks, it pitched up and went away to hit the top of off, past the batsman’s outside edge.
He gave away five runs in that first over, eight runs in the next (one of only two fours on his bowling came here – not a perfectly controlled steer through deep third).
But those last two overs were largely successful in defining this match. Four runs were scored in the 16th over, 24 runs were scored after the 15th over. Two runs in the 17th over. His figures were 2 wickets for 18 runs.
Arshdeep plays his character
Arshdeep Singh was almost equally excellent, taking 2 for 20. His two powerplay overs cost only eight, and he took the crucial wicket of Aiden Markram, who dismissed him. In the middle overs, he dismissed Quinton de Kock, who was looking to increase the pace after overseeing his recovery from two early concussions.
And then that brilliant 19th over, in which he bowled two balls to Miller but gave away only three of them, otherwise keeping Maharaj on strike.
This happened when India’s spinners conceded 106 runs in their nine collective overs.
Klaasen makes six-full charge
One of the best hits of the tournament was Klaasen’s wide shot, taking a googly from Kuldeep Yadav past the cover boundary for six runs, with minimal leg movement. This was his third six (he had earlier hit Hardik and Ravindra Jadeja over the rope).
But it was against Axar Patel that he really gave South Africa the lead. On the first ball of the 15th over, he hit the ball on the ground with his backfoot for four runs. Akshar bowled two wides out of fear. Then later, there were two huge hits down the ground – one of which broke the roof of the stadium, then a boundary through wide long-off for good measure.
He completed his half-century in 23 balls, which is the fastest half-century so far in a T20 World Cup final. After his dismissal, South Africa could not hit a single deliberate boundary, the only four coming off the outside edge of Kagiso Rabada.
Kohli left anchor
Between the fourth and 18th overs, Kohli faced 35 balls in which he scored 29 runs and did not hit any boundaries. When he reached fifty, he had used 48 balls, and did not lift his bat, batting in the ODI middle-overs mode for most of that time. There was clearly a criticism to be made here: was this innings so ambitious that it was actually hurting India?
But the opposition is strong. When the third wicket (Suryakumar Yadav) fell in the fifth over, Kohli had scored 22 runs on 16 runs. And the security he provided at one end allowed Axar (pushed up to order No. 5) and Shivam Dubey to prosper with their big hits.
His stands with those batsmen made 72 runs from 54 (Akshar made 47 from 31) and 57 from 33 (Dubey made 22 from 13), and formed the foundation of India’s innings. Their 176 runs for 7 wickets was the highest score by any team in a World Cup final.
Is South Africa suffocated?
Through 35 overs of this game, you couldn’t possibly have come to that conclusion. They were in high spirits in the early overs, when Keshav Maharaj struck twice and Rabada dismissed Suryakumar, India’s most dangerous batsman. He held his catches and excelled in the outfield.
They also recovered well from losing early wickets. But at one point they needed 26 runs from 24 balls, with six wickets in hand and Bumrah had only one over left. They tried to target Hardik, which was a smart play in that situation, but they lost both their key batsmen to him.
There are also simple explanations: India was battle-hardened and skilled; South Africa’s batting order was small.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer for ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf
Discover more from news2source
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
