T20 World Cup, June 1-29

[Arthur Crabtree]

Looks like SA might have a sniff.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Should do it. Unless they...

[Durhamfootman]

do what they do

[Durhamfootman]

SA looked like they had a lot of work to do when I checked the score after 13 overs. Then I checked again and they looked definite winners after 16 overs, now I've checked and they need 16 off the last over

[Arthur Crabtree]

11 off 3. Looks like they stuffed it.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Indian pace bowlers to the rescue.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Wicket. It's all over. Well done India.

[Durhamfootman]

They needed 26 off the last 4 overs with 6 wickets in hand

It could be argued that India bowled really well, but two of those overs were bowled by Hardik, so that can't be true.

A good old fashioned SA choke, by the looks of things

[Arthur Crabtree]

In a world gone mad, it's deeply reassuring that there are still some things you can rely on.

[mikesiva]

What an exciting final!

India win by seven runs.

South Africa 169-8

Klaasen 53 from 27
De Kock 39

Hardik 3-20
Bumrah 2-18
Arshdeep 2-20

The pacers got it done.

[bigfluffylemon]

Did SA choke?

Well done India. Worthy winners.

[alfie]

Since it is SA , the "C" word will be one everyone's lips. But that may be a little unfair to India , I think.

Klaasen edging a wide one - a mistake. But still SA were favourite despite the tail arriving... but Bumrah then bowled a truly magnificent over , and Arshdeep backed him up ; leaving just that wonderful SKY catch to take the match...

Could say SA were a little too timid against Arshdeep at the end ? Or maybe just that Maharaj couldn't lay bat on ball. Think SA were arguably one batting spot light but that's the problem in getting team balance. No complaints anyway : India a thoroughly deserved winner in a final that was a cut above most of the previous games (with due respect to a few flawed but exciting contests on often poor pitches).

Kohli and Rohit sign off their white ball games on a high

[meninblue]

Tense match. Finally a long awaited 11 year drought of World Cup wins for India - the last World cup win coming in ODI 2011 WC. Should have won atleast two major tournaments by now but will take one for now considering we were not winning any major trophies.

30 of 30 with around 6 wickets left should have been SA's match. But cricket is just not won by getting into winning positions. The execution part is what SA lacked after coming into strong winning position. Whereas India executed skills from back-to-the-wall situation. To be specific the great 18th over by Jasprit in which he gave just 2 runs and bowled Marco. This turned the match. The full toss by Hardik was a poor ball and SKY being the better fielder Heinrich Klaasen got out to a rubbish ball. The catch by SKY was another crucial contribution. Another Indian fielder from the playing 11 would have struggled. These were the two key moments India won after being in a precarious situation where all seemed to have lost.


Jasprit and Rohit have played a massive part here in the tournament. There are some things that Rohit does and Virat cannot and Rohit has proved it once again. Without his knocks , especially against Australia in knockout where they are the deadliest was one such and then the knock against England who have merged as one of the best short form teams was awesome. Without his mountain of runs India would not have achieved this. Glad Virat atleast played one innings worthy of an opener. But i thought India were short by 15 runs as the wicket had nothing for the bowlers. Rohit is a tremendous hitter having scored 200 couple of times in ODI and it was good to see the change of approach he took in this T20i cup. Much wanted change as we know he was capable. Whereas Virat just couldn't change his T20i game for all matches except the one. But even for one match, it luckily came when Rohit did not score. Axar's contribution of 47 and Shivam Dubey with 27 managed to up the strike rate with 152 and 169 respectively. Given Virat was scoring at 128 considering loss of two wickets , these two innings with high strike rate were much wanted. Apart from Kuldeep and Jaddu, everyone played there part in this win.

No words are enough to praise Jasprit. He has worked on little weakness he had in bowling and now is certainly an Indian legend with Player of the series in pressure tournament

Virat and Rohit have announced retirement from T20i. There was a voice that both Rohti and Virat should have been sacked. Rohit managed to change his approach scoring 257 runs at impressive strike rate of 156. Virat could only score 151 runs and has a poor strike rate of 113. So out fo the two experienced batsmen under pressure, Rohit was the tone whi turned the things around consistently and adapted to the much needed change. Rohit is a better hitter than Virat and has a game which Virat cannot match, but consistency wise Virat was expected to turn up throughout the tournament. It is wonderful to see Rohit has worked hard and executed the skills alongwith massive improvement in the much needed change from Indian openers.

With the retirement , atleast the selectors will now play a proper opener inspite of trying a blunder of making Virat open which meant India never got a good opening start from both openers together in one match. There was a time that youngsters were putting pressure on outdated approach of the players and it is good that both of them have retired from this format. Thanks for the contribution to Indian cricket in t20i but this was due two years back. Delayed but glad the retirements have come. Surely Indian fans are eager to see a brand new approach in this format which is missing.

Rohit has won five IPL trophies and one Champions league T20 trophy. but this to me as a fan equals of of that considering the difference in IPL and international stage. To win all matches is simply outstanding team effort. As a captain he has proved he is just not a good captain in lifting domestic trophies. The World Cup is a massive achievement for him being a captain.

[meninblue]

:ind:

Tense match. Finally a long awaited 11 year drought of World Cup wins for India - the last World cup win coming in ODI 2011 WC. Should have won atleast two major tournaments by now but will take one for now considering we were not winning any major trophies.

Last WC win for India was in 2007, so 13 years . Too long to attain the final goal for a major cricketing nation like India. Hope the new generation will win 2 in as many years. With youth there is better hope in the batting department, especially in this format.

[sussexpob]

Jasprit Bumrah should be made illegal ..... he's unreal