India win T20I WC after 17 years as South Africa chokes again in a thriller

 

India won the world cup again after 13 years.  Rohit Sharma's team is the unbeaten champion for the 1st time in T20I World cups .  India edge out  South Africa by 7 runs in T20 World Cup final.  Batting first, India scored 176 runs for 7 wickets.  In reply, the Proteas' innings ended at 169 for 8.  Rohit's India are the world's best in 20-over cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side won the 1st ever T20I World Cup in 2007.  All the Indian team cried after the match ended . 

 Bumrah was brilliant in his wnd spell and along with  Hardik Pandya and Surya snatched the victory from the face of defeat.  Suryakumar Yadav also showed South Africa the door of defeat by holding David Miller's catch on the boundary line brilliantly as the ball waa going for a 6 .   The color of the match changed completely in the last three overs.  South Africa's dream was shattered in front of Team India's  unyielding mentality.

 Rohit and Suryakumar handled the Indian innings in the semi-final against England.  Both failed against South Africa in the final.  Rishabh Pant also increased the team's tension by batting recklessly.  Rohit (9), Pant (nil) and Suryakumar (3) all got out within 5 overs, putting India under pressure.  To prevent the batting collapse this time went to 'Plan B'.  Akshar Patel, the best cricketer in the semi-finals, was promoted to number five.  The left-handed all-rounder teamed up with Virat Kohli to prevent the team's disaster.

 Kohli started in an aggressive mood.  He was playing in a familiar mood on this day after many days.  But Kohli checked himself in the face of pressure and played an innings of responsibility.  Akshar tried to be agressive by handling the pressure a bit.  In the end he got run out to a direct hit  .  Akshar missed half  century due to his mistake.  Scored 47 runs off 31 balls with the help of 1 four and 4 sixes and looked in great touch . He also took the pressure off Kohli who kept the other side of the wicket safe.   Shivam Dube, who struggled in the entire competition, tried to fight in the final.  Kohli scored the first fifty of the competition.  He got out for 76 off 59 balls hitting 6 fours and 2 sixes . Kohli went after the bowling after crossing 50.   Shivam Dube made a quickfire 27 off 16 balls.  He hit 3 fours and 1 six.  At the end of 72 runs by the Kohli-Shivam duo, Hardik remained unbeaten with 5 runs.  Jadeja is out for 2 runs.

South Africa's most successful bowler Keshav Maharaj took 2 wickets for 23 runs.  Coming to bowl, he dismissed Rohit and Pant in the first over and put India under pressure.  Nirtje took 2 wickets for 26 runs.  1 wicket for 36 runs for Kagiso Rabada.  Marco Janssen took 1 wicket with 49 runs and was very expensive dishing out half volleys to Kohli in the first over of the match .

 South Africa also lost a couple of wickets at the start of batting with a target of 177 runs to win.  Reza Hendricks (4) dismissed by an unplayable delivery by Bumrah.  Aden Markram (4) was caught behind off Arshdeep Singh.  Quinton de Kock and Tristan Stubbs led the team's innings after losing 2 wickets for 12 runs.  For the third wicket, the fluent batting of their duo put Rohit & Co under some pressure.  Akshar broke their pair.  Stubbs was out for 31 off 21 balls.  Hit 3 fours and 1 six.  After him, Henrik Klaassen paired with De Kock.  Indian bowlers could not stop the pace of South Africa's scoring .  De Kock was dismissed by Arshdeep.  His innings of 39 runs off 31 balls included 4 fours and 1 six.  It didn't help much either.  Klassen's aggressive batting kept India under pressure as he launched a fierce assault on the spinners and almost took South Africa close to a win .  In the end, when Hardik got him out, India came back into the fight.  Klassen scored a dazzling  52 runs off 27 balls.

 The Proteas fell under counter pressure after Klaasen got out.  Jansen too (2) could not convince the team.  He was dismissed by Bumrah clean bowled .  David Miller and Maharaj could not handle the pressure after losing 2 wickets in a row.   A desperate Miller (21) was caught by Suryakumar on the boundary line while trying to hit a six.  It was this wicket that ensured India's victory.  In the end, the Proteas could not score more than 169 runs for 8 wickets.  But South Africa was in a favorable position in the race to win the match till 16 overs.

 India's most successful bowler Hardik took 3 wickets for 20 runs.  Bumrah was brilliant with his  2 wickets for 18 runs.  Arshdeep (2/20) was decent . Akshar took 1 wicket for 49 runs but was expensive.  Kuldeep Yadav had to remain wicketless despite spending 45 runs in the final.

Virat Kohli for his solid 76 rubs was the player of the match  and Bumrah got the player of the tournament award after India won their 2nd T20I World cup.

It was another heartbreak for South Africa as they looked to be the likely winners with 4 overs to go and Klaasen destroying the Indian bowling but Klaasen's dismissal put back huge pressure on South Africa  and even David Miller could not steer his team to a win . South Africa need to find a way to win crunch matches in world cups