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The final turned out to be a complete anti-climax, but no one was complaining. Having shed every fingernail during the tense semi-final win over England, India’s fans rejoiced in a dominant display by their heroes, whose grip on the T20 World Cup tightened with each passing minute here on Sunday.
Perfection is overrated
India didn’t run the perfect campaign, but then again, perfection is overrated. South Africa came into the semi-finals as the only unbeaten side and were walloped by New Zealand. India were among those to suffer at South Africa’s hands, in the Super Eights. But once they blasted 256 against Zimbabwe in the first of four must-win outings, the hosts were a batting unit transformed, welcoming a return to terrific batting strips with some of the most outrageous ball-striking.
The final was further proof of India’s smarts aligning superbly with their firepower. In the only over of off-spin from Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma was happy to dead-bat a couple away; off-spin had been his kryptonite in the World Cup and so he set ego aside, knowing that he had the game to catch up. And catch up he did spectacularly, with an 18-ball half-century that set the tone for a decisive 255 for five in which Sanju Samson’s 89 was the highest contribution.
Samson, the hero
Samson was the undisputed batting hero (97 not out, 89 and 89 in his last three games), and earned the Player of the Tournament honours. From a non-starter to the most influential batting cog in the title run must be sweet for the 31-year-old, who had flattered to deceive so often earlier.
India stuck to the team mantra, eking out contributions from everyone, and counting their blessings that they can fall back on the genius of Jasprit Bumrah. Suryakumar Yadav used his battering ram superbly and Bumrah responded by topping the wicket-taking chart (14) with a telling maiden four-for in the final. It will be no exaggeration to say that, with just two defeats in 33 matches in the last four ICC white-ball events, India are the limited-overs gold standard currently.
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