Indian players celebrate with the winner’s trophy after their victory over South Africa in the ICC men’s T20 World Cup cricket final at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday.
Ramon Espinosa/AP
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Ramon Espinosa/AP
The Indian men’s cricket team won a tense final against South Africa in the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday, ending the country’s 13-year drought on the global cricket stage.
Both India and South Africa are unbeaten before Saturday’s match in Barbados. South Africa seemed to have a chance to win, but India thwarted the Indian team’s bid to put out 176 runs.
This is India’s second T20 World Cup win; the team won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. It was also India’s first World Cup win in 13 years in any form of cricket, following a series of heartbreaking finals over the past 12 months .
“The boys understand when the pressure is on to do what needs to be done,” said India captain Rohit Sharma. “Today was a perfect example, [we] stuck together with our backs against the wall. We really wanted this… very proud of the boys and the management.”
Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, but many Americans are unfamiliar with it. T20 is the short form of the game. In a T20 match, each team has 20 overs. In each over, a bowler (similar to a batsman) from the opposing team throws six balls for the fielder (similar to a fielder) to hit. The batter makes a “run” each time they hit the ball, which counts as points for the team. There are two batsmen playing on each side.
“To get a run, the easiest way, or perhaps the hardest way, is to hit the ball as hard as you can so that it goes over the boundary line, which is the end of the court,” says NPR producer Omkar Khandekar in Mumbai, India. Morning edition. “If you can do that, then you start running in the middle of what they call the field. And the more runs you do, the more runs you get.”
India overcame early difficulties in the match
Virat Kohli, one of the team’s leading batsmen, played a key role in India’s final win over South Africa. The Indian team struggled early after deciding to bat first – they managed just 34 runs in the first five overs. This meant that in the first quarter of India’s batting, the team averaged only about one run per ball.
But Kohli was able to help lift that average. When India finished batting, the score was 176-7, meaning they had made 176 runs off 120 balls and seven wickets were out.
India’s Virat Kohli celebrates after the team’s victory over South Africa in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket final at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday.
Ricardo Mazalan/AP
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Ricardo Mazalan/AP
Kohli announced at the end of the match that this would be his last T20 World Cup appearance.
“This is my last T20 World Cup and this is what we wanted to achieve,” Kohli said. “I did my job for the team on a big day. It’s time for the next generation to take over, some great players to take the team forward and keep the flag flying high.”
Kohli had a great performance in his last match, scoring what is known as a “half-century” in cricket, which is when a batsman scores 50 runs during the team’s spell. His polish.
South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi, left, reacts after his team’s loss to India during the men’s ICC T20 World Cup cricket final at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday.
Ricardo Mazalan/AP
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Ricardo Mazalan/AP
When South Africa came to bat, the team looked strong: they scored 147 runs in 15 innings thanks in part to Heinrich Klaasen. But when he got out, the team began to falter: Marco Jansen scored just two runs before Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah bowled a ball that resulted in one out.
Bumrah received the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award for his hard-hitting bowling style.
David Miller scored 21 runs for South Africa in 17 balls, but in the final over of the tournament, a stunning catch by India’s Suryakumar Yadav forced Miller out of the match, and the remaining South African batsman failed to score the remaining runs needed to win. In the end, South Africa trailed by just seven runs.
This is the first time South Africa has reached the final of an international cricket tournament.
“It’s disappointing,” said South Africa captain Aiden Markram. “It hurts a lot, but it’s incredibly proud. We never felt comfortable, things were going so well at the back, but we’ve come out in a great position to prove we deserved to be finalists.”
