T20 WC 2024 | 5 overs, 3 bowlers, a spectacular catch: How India won battle of nerves

A touch of helplessness gripped the Indians. They were determined to fight it out till the bitter end, till the swinging pendulum rested on one side or the other, but they could sense that the game was slipping away, that runs were not their ally.

In their first appearance in the final of a World Cup, South Africa were within five blows of crossing the finish line. In the middle were Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, outstanding batters both, masters of finishing off T20 games. Klaasen, the destroyer of spin and spirit, was determined to get it all done by himself, laying into India’s acclaimed spinners, hitting sixes for fun; Miller wasn’t hanging around, having clattered Kuldeep Yadav, India’s best spinner of the competition, for a four and a six within minutes of arriving at the crease.

Cliff-hanger

With five overs to go, India’s 176 for seven looked positively miniscule, their aspirations of a second T20 World Cup title hanging by the slenderest of threads. Thirty needed in 30, six wickets in hand. What do you do, Rohit Sharma? What do you do, indeed?

Rohit turned to the one man he knew would never let him down, come rain or sunshine, come hail or doomsday. Throughout the tournament, this unassuming 30-year-old, who is the hottest property in world cricket, delivered emphatically when his magic was required. Why should it be any different just because it was the final of a World Cup?

No-fuss Bumrah

And so, at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown on Saturday afternoon, with South Africa needing 30 off 30, and Klaasen in a murderous mood, Rohit tossed the ball to Jasprit Bumrah. India needed wickets, yes, but they also needed control. In the previous over, the 15th, Klaasen had smashed Axar Patel for two sixes and as many fours, 24 coming in six deliveries. That was when Indian hearts started to pound, the throats began to go dry, the eyes assumed a bright hue, populated as they were by unshed tears.

Bumrah, no-fuss Bumrah, marked his run-up. He twitched a little — he’s full of nervous energy, this lad — and then produced six of the most nerveless balls ever. Forget about seeking boundaries, Klaasen and Miller were scrambling for survival. Only four singles accrued; 26 off was still easy pickings, but hey…

Crunch time

Rohit had one more ace up his sleeve. In a desperate bid for wickets, Rohit kept half the allotment of the fifth bowler — made up by Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya — back until the 17th over. Now, he had no choice but to bring back Pandya, who fancies himself as an out-and-out quick bowler even if he can be profligate in pursuing his penchant for the short ball.

Pandya’s first delivery on return was fullish, widish, outside off. It sucked Klaasen into an ambitious drive that flew off the edge into Rishabh Pant’s gloves. Perhaps the mood he was in had something to do with it, but Klaasen knew he had been lured into a trap of someone else’s making that he willingly walked into. India were now buzzing. Miller was still around, but just like Bumrah couldn’t do it on his own, the left-handed batter couldn’t do it single-handedly either. Game on.

Pandya finished the over strongly, going for just four. The cat was truly among the pigeons. Thirty off 30 had become 22 off 18. Crunch time.

Bumrah is back

Rohit had a decision to make — would he stick with Bumrah for the 18th, or hold him back for the vital 19th? He went with his gut, he went for wickets, he went to his best bowler, bar none. Bumrah had six balls to push South Africa deeper into the abyss of self-doubt and negativity. He had a reversing ball to do so with.

No matter how skilled one is, no matter the control at one’s command, pressure can make you do funny things. It can make your feet feel as if weighted down by a hundred pounds of lead, it can make the hands go stiff, it can make the mind go numb, it can set the nerves jangling. Jasprit Bumrah has obviously not heard of the P word.

Mind games

Six magical deliveries, two runs, the wicket of Marco Jansen with a pearler of a reverse-swinger that hit top of leg. The decibel levels went through the roof; India’s supporters, muted and despondent until a few minutes back, were screaming hoarse while South Africa wore haunted, hunted looks, clearly losing the battle in the mind. The equation after Bumrah’s special burst of 2-0-6-1 – 20 off 12.

2-0-6-1 is bland. It reflects none of the drama, nothing of the incandescence of the bowler, it sterilises the threat every ball posed. Under immense pressure, with the World Cup final slipping away. From a man who could well be the brand ambassador of any postal department, given that he always delivers. ALWAYS. But Bumrah was now done. He had no more bullets to fire.

Gift of 16

Over to Arshdeep Singh, another of India’s heroes. Three tidy overs, but his most important six deliveries of the World Cup loomed. He had to leave enough for Pandya to defend in the 20th. But what was enough? Who knew how many were too many, or too few?

Arshdeep, tunnel-visioned Arshdeep, gave Pandya the gift of 16 runs to work with. In six balls. In the final over of the final of the T20 World Cup. It was a huge gift.

Make or break?

Pandya is the vice-captain of this team, now surely the captain after Rohit’s retirement from T20Is. He is the balancer, the destroyer with the bat and the enforcer with the ball. The entire World Cup had come down to this, his last over, the last six deliveries of the competition. Make, or break?

Make, with spectacular help from Suryakumar Yadav.

Stolen victory

The first ball was a juicy full toss and Miller’s eyes lit up. In his anxiety, he mistimed the ball and Suryakumar came charging to his left at long-off. He barely completed the two-handed catch when he realised that he was going to go out of bounds; a couple of millimetres and it would have been six. Instead, Suryakumar nonchalantly tossed the ball up, stepped out and stepped back in, and pouched the catch, cool as a cucumber. Sixteen off 5.

Pandya conceded just eight more, and India had stolen victory, and the World Cup, by seven runs.

There’s a reason why they call T20 cricket a format of fine margins.