[RGK]

How SA lost

They were in a comfortable position while batting at 150/4, needing only 27 runs from 28 balls with Klasen playing well and Jansen next to bat.

The mental aspect of the game becomes crucial here, as although they only needed to score at a run a ball to maintain control, the pressure of scoring quickly in T20 matches for victory led to panic setting in. ( who said that in T20 one has to to score quickly and then only the victory will be recognised).

Except Bumrah’s inswinger , South Africans fell due to their self created pressure. In a 50-over game, the batsmen's mindset would naturally be to focus on scoring singles steadily for a more controlled victory.

The human mind can become fixated on one method and neglects to explore other possibilities at times.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

A well deserved victory for the Indian team. The ODI World Cup loss now rankles even more since it was the over zealousness of the BCCI which robbed the players from playing their natural game after the pitch fiasco and the associated pressures. If not, we would have probably won two world cups in as many years while remaining undefeated.

A fitting occasion for the greats of the game. It was so satisfying to see Rohit and Virat embracing each other after the match was won. And that cry of ecstasy by Rahul Dravid while holding the cup shows that how much of competitiveness flows through the man despite the fact that he is absolutely cool in his demeanour. Super happy for him specially.

The only crude thing to happen yesterday was how Jay Shah was giving away the cup and medals to the players while on the dias instead of the president of the board Roger Binny. Same thing happened during the ODI World Cup ceremony. They can just abolish the post of president if that is how they have decided to treat it. It made for a sad viewing for the man. Imagine a certain Niranjan Shah giving away medals or cup instead of a Sharad Pawar or even Jagmohan Dalmiya !!

Fully agree with you on all points.

Coming to the presentation, I was taken aback too to see Jay Shah giving out the medals and trophy. If I'm not mistaken, as the tournament was taking place in the West Indies, it should have been the WICB president giving those out. I'm not getting into the right or wrong of Jay Shah being there instead of Roger Binny as I don't want to make a comment that will go against forum rules - suffice to say that I was not surprised to see Jay Shah on the podium in place of Roger Binny. But yes, this was in real bad taste and ICC and WICB should have put their foot down in this regard. But then the BCCI calls the shots and that is another reason that fans of many countries think that India gets favours that others don't.

[Aakash118]

Firstly a lot of congratulations to every Indian for winning the WC. Coming to the topic of captaincy, I think this opportunity should be used to devlop a future all format captain, something which both Hardik & SKY are not. So my choice will be Pant, he has a cool head and plays all three formats.
My future T20 team will be this-
Jaiswal/Abhishek
Gill
Samson (I really hope that this guy finally gets a long run, he deserves this every bit)
SKY
Pant (C)
Hardik
Axar
Sundar
Kuldeep
Arshdeep
Bumrah
Others to consider-
Batsmen- Ruturaj, Rinku, Dube, Riyan Parag, V.Iyer, Rajat Patidar.
Spinners- Bishnoi, Chakravarthy
Pacers- Khaleel, Natranjan, Aavesh, Deshpandey
All Rounders- Don’t see many choices. Krunal Pandya? Or Thakur?
WK- Jitesh Sharma, Dhruv Jorel. KL Rahul anyone?

[Venkatesh]

Amul special doodle as India wins the T20 World Cup!

[RoadTiger]

It was quite an emotional moment (and I am not the types generally given to emote) to see India finally lift an ICC Trophy.

I recall similar emotions when India won in 2011 - this time, though, given the numerous heartbreaks we've had over the last many, many years including just 6-7 months ago - gave it even more meaning.

Rohit's reaction with him thumping the ground - and Dravid's reaction while holding the trophy just highlighted what it meant for a whole bunch of fans this generation.

It was a close match - and could've gone either way. I thought India were in a spot of bother with the first 3 soft dismissals to be 30-odd for 3 Axar and Kohli put together a great partnership - with Axar being fairly positive and Kohli holding up one end. It was only after Axar got out (rather dozy of him to be run out that way) that Kohli switched gears and was helped by good short knocks by Dube and Hardik. It was those last 3-4 overs that helped India get to 177 - a par score at the ground and perhaps, a slightly above par score given it was a final. Critics could argue that Kohli batted a touch slowly - but India were at risk of a significantly below par score if the wickets had kept falling. Credit to King Kohli to come good under pressure when he was most needed by the team especially after the wretched form he was in.

SA proved the tough competitors they were - after the early blows - with de Kock and Stubbs making batting look easy. The pitch played truer than in the first innings with very little grip, turn and assistance for the spinners. Klaasen later took all 3 Indian spinners to the cleaners with his sublime power hitting - before he got out. It was super smart cricket from Pandya to bowl that slow, wide, loopy delivery that induced the edge from Klaasen. Indian pacers bowled a magic spell post that with SA forgetting what normal cricket looked like. They were either just looking to block the ball or go for a big shot.

Could've still gone either way - till SKY pulled out an absolute stunner at the boundary. It was the catch of a lifetime - given the pressure - in which it was pulled off.

No praise can be enough for Bumrah. The way he tormented all the batsmen through the tournament and made top class batters look school boy-ish. India is lucky to have him and certainly needs to be preserved for the big matches.

Axar was an unsung hero - delivered good knocks and loads of wickets - through the tournament. Other than the infamous over in which Klaasen thrashed him, he was consistently good.

Lots of other good performances from SKY, Arshdeep, Kuldeep too. Hope a fresh look India T20 team lives upto the expectations over the coming months & years.

[black.beauty]

I have a controversial opinion here. The number of World Cups we have these days - like one last year 50 over, and now this year with T20. T20 comes in every 2 years anyway and then we have the World Test Championship. Let's be honest, it is just 6 competing teams and the rest of them are just there to make this look like a big tournament. The 6 competing teams are -> India, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand and England. Sri Lanka and the West Indies have lost their chance after their Boards went all bankrupt. It is just Maths, if you don't win it this year you might win the next or the one after. The probability now is way higher than before the T20 era, when you had only 50 Over World Cups that came once in 4 years.

One fun fact, I didn't even know there was something called "Quarter Finals" until I watched the Football World Cup, because Cricket had so few teams that the best it could do was "Super Sixes". My bottom line is, the World Cup just doesn't feel as big as the 2011 or even reaching the finals of 2003. The stakes were a lot higher, if you don't win today, you wait for another 4 years. Now, if you don't win today, you always can win the WTC or T20 or the 50-over World Cup. One of them would always be around the corner. To keep the sport alive with sponsors and the corresponding audience, we had to have a big tournament far too soon and sacrifice its quality.

I just don't feel the celebratory vibe as I used to for the Natwest or 2011, with the recent win.

[AtheK]

It kept happening every 2 years from 2007, still took us 17 years to lift the trophy. What makes it even more special is winning without losing a match.

Yes too much cricket these days, forget WC, it's like cricket is going on no matter what time of the year, it has some where definitely diluted the interest. That said a world cup is a world cup and it was a very good tournament. Yes 2011 was ultra special, it came after a long long time, but this one is no lesser. Maybe if this was the 4th time we were winning after 2007, it would have not felt the same, maybe that is why there is hardly any reaction in Australia on winning world cups.

Your opinion is absolutely valid and a logic driven one, but when you love a game, like majority of Indians do, it becomes more of a heart thing then mind.

[harry10]

Reports suggest Hardik is set to be t20 Captain. Good for him. I hope the last 6 months have taught him some humility and this world cup win will bring the best out of him going forward. I hope he keeps his fitness so he can play the Champions trophy next year. We will certainly need him.

Jay shah has announced new coach will be with team from SL series end of the month. Means Zimbabwe series there is no official coach. VVS Laxman will travel with the team as an interim one like he did previously as well. Don't know why bcci isn't announcing the name of the coach. We all know who it will be.

[rx100]

Originally Posted by Aakash118

Coming to the topic of captaincy, I think this opportunity should be used to devlop a future all format captain, something which both Hardik & SKY are not. So my choice will be Pant, he has a cool head and plays all three formats.

After seeing Pant as captain for DC for three seasons, I never had a feeling of him as a good captaincy material. Remember his last over antics during match against RR in 2022, and also this year IPL he had numerous wrong DRS calls and in WT20 too he had couple of wrong calls.

[horseblood]

A final this thriling come once in a generation, let alone a WC final. From the twisties & turns of hills to the ups & downs of ghats, it had all. Can't remember any one coming even close especially after 2000. Of course landing on the winning side helps, alas would've been a heartache too hard to handle especially just after 8 months.

While this win is a good beginning, I feel we need another world cup win in 2-3 years with Australia in the final, to fully heal the horrors of 2023 & 2003. Till that time, a good test series bashing/whitewash of the English/Australians on their home turf would keep the healing process steady!

[Joeboy]

South Africa lived up to its reputation of being chokers in ICC tournaments. When a team cannot score 30 runs from 30 balls with wickets in hand they don't deserve to win. India showed better mental strength in the finals to win the cup.

[ValarMorghulis]

A couple of points:

1. Those who think Virat's inning was slow, please Google "India Vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2022". Pretty much the same team and the same situation except Virat did not stay that time and the team scored 133/9. India lost that match comfortably.

2. I find it funny that we fans now "devalue" the T20 WC saying it comes up every two years. Yeah it does, but still we haven't been able to win it again since 2007. Even WI & Eng have won this twice. And now India

That said, with Champions Trophy coming in 2025 along with WTC and then T20 WC again in 2026 followed by ODI WC 2027, it does get a bit too much.
ICC should make T20 WC once every 3 or 4 years. There are 9 ICC Championships in the next 7 years.

PS: ODI WC is still the OG and the most valued.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

ICC should make T20 WC once every 3 or 4 years. There are 9 ICC Championships in the next 7 years. ODI WC is still the OG and the most valued.

Originally Posted by black.beauty

My bottom line is, the World Cup just doesn't feel as big as the 2011 or even reaching the finals of 2003. The stakes were a lot higher, if you don't win today, you wait for another 4 years. Now, if you don't win today, you always can win the WTC or T20 or the 50-over World Cup. I just don't feel the celebratory vibe as I used to for the Natwest or 2011, with the recent win.

Back in 2011, IPL was only 3 seasons old. Nobody really imagined that it would become a monster! ICC is well aware of it & overall all Cricket Boards know that their players would one day prefer playing for franchisees all over the world. Boult & Williamson have refused their Central Contracts! The 50 over format itself faces a bleak future as nobody really has the time to devote 7-8hrs in a day watching a match. The same goes for Test Matches. I just feel there's an insane amount of cricket played compared to 2011 and most of these bilaterals are a snoozefest barring maybe England,Australia & SA. So yes, we'll be WT20 Champions for 2yrs only as that is the format which is the most exciting for the majority of the audiences.

[RaghuVis]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

1. Those who think Virat's inning was slow, please Google "India Vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2022". Pretty much the same team and the same situation except Virat did not stay that time and the team scored 133/9. India lost that match comfortably.

Now that the dust has settled, I think it's important that we talk about this. Hotstar has finally given a full match link we can keep watching. Kohli has 25% of Dot balls in this inning. Many of which were not timed well. He was not in his prime touch. In form Pandya got just 2 balls to face mainly because Kohli was still rotating strike till the 18th Over. At an earlier stage, it was important that he remain for a longer time. But that is no excuse for not being aggressive till the 18th over. And looking at the way SA batted till the 15th over, it was not a bad pitch at all. The ball was coming nicely to the bat.

Originally Posted by harry10

Reports suggest Hardik is set to be t20 Captain. Good for him. I hope the last 6 months have taught him some humility.

The guy was hounded for a bad management decision. Every player has their natural behavior. Some are aggressive, some are not. Sometimes, we need someone like Hardik in the team to get the right mix. He had a bad IPL due to numerous reasons but had been not injured and played for India in WC finals, we might have seen a totally different result. He was the difference.

[VWAllstar]

Victory Lap on 4th July at Mumbai.