India glorious Premium

India glorious

In 2024, the emotions were raw, visceral, visible. In 2026, there was calmness and poise. The contrast couldn’t have been starker.

There was a compelling reason for the Class of 2024, under Rohit Sharma, to celebrate their dramatic seven-run triumph over South Africa in the final of the T20 World Cup in uninhibited fashion. Just in isolation, it was an extraordinary jailbreak. India appeared out for the count after a 24-run 15th over from Axar Patel that left the South Africans with a straightforward target of 30 off 30 deliveries. With six wickets standing, the batting side was the odds-on favourite; the only way a reversal in fortunes was possible was through an extraordinary, otherworldly bowling display that also needed, certainly needed, a collective batting brain-fade.

India kept up their end of the bargain, through the magnificent Jasprit Bumrah and his admirable pace-bowling comrades-in-arms, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya. South Africa kept up theirs too, allowing the fear of success – yes, there really is some such thing – to leave them with addled brains and leaden feet. When victory was the easier, more inviting option, South Africa chose to embrace defeat. They were driven towards that result by India, energised by the dismissal of the marauding Heinrich Klaasen, but the victors will be the first to concede that they couldn’t have done it on their own, not without the generosity of the Proteas.

Rohit, prone on the Kensington Oval turf in the beautiful Barbadian capital of Bridgetown, pounded his right palm on the grass, an outpouring of relief and delight and vindication and redemption. His predecessor as captain, Virat Kohli, struggled to hold back the tears after playing a crucial knock that would have counted for little had it not been for the end result. Pandya, Rohit’s deputy, made no attempt at affected machismo, allowing the tears to roll down his cheeks unchecked as he reflected on a difficult few months triggered by his elevation as captain of Mumbai Indians, at the expense of the popular Rohit, who had led the franchise to five IPL crowns.

And then, of course, there was the ghost of seven months previous, always perched on the shoulder, always a painful reminder of what could have been. Seven months before they sang the consolatory redemption song, Rohit’s fabulous band had come unstuck on the grandest stage of all, the final of the 50-over World Cup. India entered the tournament as the team to beat, to emulate the side of 2011 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni which justified favouritism on its way to becoming the first team to win the World Cup on home turf. They played with flair and imagination and creativity and chutzpah, sweeping all-comers in extraordinarily breathtaking fashion. They didn’t just win matches, they annihilated opponents with their daring and courage, with their aggression and depth.

The Narendra Modi Stadium, everyone was convinced, would be the platform for their coronation. But sport seldom encourages fairytales, and so it was that, inspired by Travis Head, Pat Cummins’ men completely silenced a massive pro-India home crowd, conjuring a six-wicket victory that plunged a nation into despondency and despair.