India End Cricket Curse After Beating South Africa To Win T20 World Cup

Rohit Sharma lay on the field and punched the Kensington Oval turf several times. Being captain of mighty India, cricket’s undisputed powerhouse, is an uncompromising role with the hopes and dreams of a billion people piled on your back.

The scrutiny is always at 100% and Rohit, like everyone else who has filled these big shoes, has been numerously a punching bag. An ashen-faced Rohit looked like he saw a ghost in the aftermath of India losing a home final to Australia at last year’s 50-over World Cup.

But all the angst and toil bubbled over when a sprawled and emotional Rohit realized he had led India to the T20 World Cup title after a tense seven-run win over South Africa.

Cricket’s most baffling curse is over, with India ending an 11-year drought across formats. It was just their second T20 World Cup title having won the inaugural edition in 2007 – a triumph that changed cricket’s course forever with the shorter T20 format gaining a foothold.

Mighty India are simply cricket’s powerhouse on-and-off the field. They have the type of deep reservoir of talent, from a bottomless pool, that is the envy of every other nation.

India has been the most consistent team across formats over the last decade, but with no titles to show off.

They are something like the U.S. in basketball where all eyes are on them every time they play. Only winning is acceptable, everything else is deemed a failure from their totally devoted followers and bombastic media.

Even finances skewed in their favor hadn’t helped them. India’s governing body has a $6 billion media rights deal for the Indian Premier League and receives close to 40% of the revenue share from the International Cricket Council’s new $3 billion broadcast deal.

The final was a microcosm of India’s heft in a sport whose finances remain almost totally dependant on the world’s most populous nation that just happens to be cricket obsessed.

Cricket might be venturing into the U.S. in a bid to find a new money-spinning market, but India’s stranglehold of the sport was underlined by the final in Barbados being played at the strange time of 10.30am. The reason being that the match was being beamed back to an audience in the hundreds of millions in India during prime time at 8.30pm.

Amid such an early start, those in the crowd were probably just shrugging off morning grogginess, the atmosphere felt rather subdued given the magnitude of the event. Not being a night fixture also made it look less aesthetically pleasing, but the contest luckily made up for all of that.

Both teams, who had romped to the final unbeaten, got what they wanted. India batted first as their penchant, while South Africa didn’t mind as their slew of heavy-hitters prefer mowing down a total.

Rohit had been perhaps the most influential figure in the tournament, batting ultra aggressively in a selfless act in a bid to set a tone. There had been some speculation before the World Cup that Rohit and superstar Virat Kohli were on the outer in the format after a weary India’s humiliating exit in Australia two years ago.

But, predictably, India’s hierarchy stuck with the legends in what might just be their last World Cup appearances. It appeared perhaps destiny that Rohit was going to impose his will much like he did against fellow powerhouse Australia, who were clobbered by the inspired India captain and shockingly dumped from the tournament.

Rohit had been out for revenge all tournament after the heartbreak of last year’s World Cup final. But he fell in the second over and Rishabh Pant was dismissed two balls later forcing Kohli, who had endured a miserable tournament up to this point, to play sedately.

Kohli’s detractors were sharpening their knives after he posted his slowest ever T20I half-century. But Kohli, who after the match revealed he was retiring from T20Is, ignited after that to ensure India posted a competitive score and put the pressure back on South Africa, who were out to end three decades of misery at World Cups.

It was a see-saw of a chase with South Africa on track for a stunning upset until Jasprit Bumrah, arguably India’s greatest ever pace bowler, bowled a delivery from the cricket gods to knock over Marco Jansen in the 18th over and India could not be stopped from there.

It was just a matter of time before India celebrated in jubilation and claimed their rightful place at the top of the cricket tree. With their supreme cricket boss Jay Shah basking in the glory, only adding to their all-powerful flex, this might just be the start of India’s domination that has long felt inevitable.

You can take this to the bank – India won’t be waiting another decade for a title.