"Dhoni finishes off in style, It's India who win the World Cup." These lines said by Ravi Shastri had gone old with respect to India's World Cup Trophy drought. The most dominating team in bilateral series could not win an ICC Trophy and this was the biggest disappointment for ICT fans. After losing the 2023 world cup final, the first thought which came into my mind was that most probably 2024 t20 wc would be the last world cup Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will play together. So, this was their only chance for a world cup glory and they did not gave us a feeling of dismay, sadness and disappointment but an year full of cherishing memories, joy and happiness
India won the T20 World Cup 2024 happening in the USA and West Indies. They became the only team to win a world cup staying unbeaten. Their journey to the final was a happening one from the high pressure game against or the game against Australia. Especially, the game against Pakistan was a sheer representation of the evolution of Indian team's pace battery in the last decade. From 98 percentage of winning the match with Pakistan our pace battery broke their dreams of winning a game against India as they took the game from them in the last 10 overs. From the first game to the last one, India never looked a under confident or worn out team as they dominated everybody they faced badly. One such win was against Australia in the Super Eight which was personal for every Indian citizen ( If you know what I am talking about). Rohit's knock in that game was the indication of the frustration he had in himself after every knockout loss in every world cup in the last 5-6 years with more respect to 19th November. Then comes the Semifinal against England and that transition from 10 wicket win to 10 wickets out was outstanding. The game was one sided as soon as England completed their powerplay during the batting stint. Every cricket in the team was hungry of that silverware. So, they never looked back to the losses they had been facing but focused on their race to the unmatched legacy of winning a World Cup Trophy. The final was the best which could happen in an ICC tournament. It was not a cricket match a display of every emotion one can imagine in a game of cricket. India set a target of 177 and defend for India seemed easy until Klaseen smashed 24 runs in the 15th over and his team needed just 30 of 30 balls. India's pace attack pulled off a blinder from that stage by first Bumrah giving an economical over and then Hardik took the wicket of Klaseen to shift the momentum of the game on his side. The hidden hero was Arshdeep Singh who also pulled of two brilliant overs at the right - one in the middle and the other in the death. Last over consisted of South Africa requiring 16 runs and Hardik had to defend them. The first ball was a full toss indicating the pressure Hardik had with respect to his last 6 months. Miller swung his bat so hard but could not get the middle and it was the sticker that touched his bat but it was enough to go to the boundary but not above it as Suryakumar Yadav caught the ball and fancied India's chances to get the silverware.
Virat Kohli was in tears and Rohit Sharma lied down to celebrate their undermining hard work in the last decade and the last time in this format. The pair decided to announce their retirement from T20I's together after getting their hands on the silverware. Looking back to their world cup triumph I see a roller coaster ride filled with emotions of joy, happiness and satisfaction. The trophy weighing 12kg which they lifted had made 1.3 billion people happy back home which they expressed through lighting firecrackers and doing individual parades. India became the first cricket team to win a T20I world cup unbeaten displaying their want to get hands on the trophy badly and they gave everything for it. We also gave everything for it and got the result back paying the debt of our worshipping to the team from the last 17 freaking years.
Ravi Shastri's lines were replaced by the ones - Long on, Long On and what a catch, Suryakumar takes it and Miller's gone !!!!!!!!
