The year 2024 has been memorable for Indian sports in many ways. One of the biggest moments of the year came in Barbados on June 29, when India won the T20 World Cup title after defeating South Africa in the final. With this, India also ended their 11-year-old ICC trophy drought. It was a very huge and emotional moment for the players and the fans of the Indian cricket team who were waiting for a ICC title for more than a decade.
India were amongst the favourite contenders to lift the 2024 T20 World Cup title under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. The Men in Blue had a dominant outing throughout the tournament and made it into the final without losing a single game. In the final, India were scheduled to face the South Africa, who were also coming unbeaten. India were now looking to cross the finishing line which they were missing in the ICC tournament for the last 11 years.
Suryakumar Yadav took memorable catch at long-off during 2024 T20 World Cup
Batting first in the final, India posted 176/7 with Virat Kohli top scoring with 76(59) along with useful contributions from Axar Patel (47 off 31) and Shivam Dube (27 off 16). Coming to chase the winning target, the Protea Men were also going neck-to-neck with India’s total. However, the Indian bowlers, including the likes of Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh made a great comeback to take the final over. However, in the last over, South Africa needed 16 runs to win with David Miller still at the crease, and Hardik Pandya taking charge with the ball for India.
Bowling the first ball of the 20th over, Hardik Pandya bowled a low full toss to David Miller which the Proteas batter pulled away towards boundary at long on. At first, it was looking like a clear six, but the things turned around completely after Suryakumar Yadav went in and out of the boundary line and finally completed a famous catch that etched in the memory of the Indian cricket fans. Suryakumar first caught the ball and threw it in the air and completed the catch again after coming out of the boundary line. After that, Pandya continued his tight bowling in the next five balls as South Africa fell short of just seven runs of India’s total.
