How incredible India won ICC T20 World Cup 2024 to end their 13-year wait

Between Kohli’s vintage innings and Pandya’s moment of redemption, Rohit’s India end their long wait for a world title in Barbados.

Bridgetown, Barbados – For India, the 13-year wait finally ended on a glorious day in Barbados. For South Africa, the endless agony goes on, with no guarantee if or when it will end.

But the spectacle these two teams produced at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown was more than worthy of a World Cup final. It was a contest that swayed back and forth, each blow followed by an equally brutal counterpunch that left the result in the balance until the final moments.

Even before the match had begun, the streets around the Kensington Oval were awash with blue. There were neutrals, there was the rare South African, but the overwhelming majority of fans were here hoping to see Rohit Sharma lift the trophy they felt was theirs by divine right, unaware it would be the last time he would represent India in this format.

The first time when he wore a winner’s medal he was a rookie in South Africa in 2007. He bowed out wearing one in Barbados as the leader of an incredibly talented and defiant India side that beat South Africa – the symmetry complete and the weight of expectation of more than one billion Indian fans lifted off his shoulders.

Rohit announced his T20I retirement at the end of his media address, almost as if it was an afterthought. He had allowed Virat Kohli his moment in the sun during the post-match presentation when the ace batter revealed this would be his last T20 International.

Few players, even the greatest, get to script their perfect farewell. If Rohit’s was a sweet triumph, Kohli’s was the stuff of legend. He came into the final with 75 runs in the bank from seven innings over the