‘The greatest catch ever’ helps India make history while USA announces itself on world stage at men’s T20 World Cup
CNN —
Color and noise filled India’s streets on Saturday night as the country celebrated its cricket team’s dramatic triumph at the men’s T20 World Cup, defeating South Africa by just seven runs in the final.
Pictures and videos showed people waving flags – some from the roofs of cars stuck in traffic jams – raising their arms in celebration, dancing and brandishing sparklers.
For a cricket-obsessed nation, where the team are national celebrities and the sport is played everywhere, it has been a long 13-year wait without a World Cup trophy.
India is consistently one of the best teams in the world, in all of the sport’s formats – Test, one-day and T20 – but it has experienced a year pockmarked by disappointments, losing to Australia in the finals of both the World Test Championship and, more significantly, at its home ODI World Cup.
And it was the manner of India’s victory, as much as the victory itself, that sparked such ecstatic celebrations. Anchored by talisman Virat Kohli, it had posted a total of 176-7 – the highest ever in a men’s T20 World Cup final – but South Africa was undeterred and, with only five overs to play, it seemed as if the Proteas might achieve the impossible.
India defeated South Africa by seven runs.It took a spell of brilliant death bowling from Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, as well as Suryakumar Yadav taking what social media users immediately labelled the “greatest catch ever,” to seal India’s historic victory as it became the first ever team to win the tournament without losing a single match.
Almost immediately, India’s captain Rohit Sharma and Kohli announced their retirement from T20 cricket, able to retire from this format with a trophy, finally, in hand.
“This has to be the
