India 176/7 (Kohli 76, Axar 47, Maharaj 2-23, Nortje 2-26) vs South Africa 169 for 8 (Klaasen 52, Bumrah 2-18, Arshdeep 2-20, Hardik 3-20) by seven runs
Rohit Sharma had to go to the best bowler in the world, whereas he would have otherwise saved Bumrah for the later overs. Bumrah did not break the partnership, the batsmen never had the courage to face him. But he broke the rhythm of Klaasen and Miller. They gave away only four runs in that over.
But the biggest blow came at the start of the 17th over. With Rishabh Pant’s knee injury having slowed the flow of the game further, Hardik bowled a wide line outside off and it hit Klaasen’s edge, Pant happily grabbed the opportunity.
Miller was still on the field, although he failed to hit a single boundary in the remainder of that over.
Then Bumrah came back and bowled a string of superb deliveries in yet another tournament-defying final over, dominating the innings. With one of his magical deliveries, a dangerous in-seamer, he ripped through the defence of the last South African batsman, Marco Jansen, touching leg stump.
The dream-shattering blow was next. 16 runs were needed from the final over bowled by Hardik. Miller tried to hit the first ball, a wide full toss, straight across the boundary. But he failed to connect properly and Suryakumar, running at full speed along the rope, keeping his feet only centimeters inside, caught the ball, lofted it and briefly walked across the boundary, then completed the running catch and jumped back into the field, leading to cheers in the stands and jubilant celebrations by the Indian players.
South African batsmen at No. 8, 9 and 10 could not manage to dismiss Hardik except for an outside edge which went for four runs.
When Hardik led India to a seven-run win, the bowler knelt down in relief, his teammates jumped in joy and the crowd cheered as India’s supporters celebrated. Their team had become world champions again after 13 years.
Bumrah’s brilliant final performance
On a flat Barbados pitch, Bumrah bowled two unplayable deliveries that cost him two wickets – both bowled. The first was better. It was one of the best deliveries of the tournament, and arguably one of the best in the final. The angled delivery to Reeza Hendricks pitched up, seamed down and hit the top of off, getting the batsman’s outside edge.
He conceded five runs in the first over, eight in the next (one of only two fours off his bowling came here – a not entirely controlled steer towards deep third).
But those last two overs defined this match to some extent. The 16th over yielded four runs, while the 15th over yielded 24 runs. The 17th over yielded two runs. His figures were 2 for 18.
Arshdeep played his role
Arshdeep Singh performed almost as well, taking 2 wickets for 20 runs. His two powerplay overs cost only eight runs, and he took the crucial wicket of Aiden Markram, who had him caught behind. In the middle overs, he dismissed Quinton de Kock, who was trying to increase the pace after recovering from two early setbacks.
And then there was that brilliant 19th over, in which he bowled two balls to Miller but conceded only three runs, otherwise keeping Maharaj on strike.
This happened after the Indian spinners had conceded a total of 106 runs in nine overs.
Klaasen strikes with six goals
One of the best hits of the tournament was Klaasen smashing Kuldeep Yadav’s googly over the cover boundary with very little movement of his foot. This was his third six (he had earlier hit sixes off Hardik and Ravindra Jadeja).
But it was against Axar Patel that he really gave South Africa the upper hand. On the first ball of the 15th over, he hit a boundary off the back foot down the ground. Axar, in a panic, bowled two wides. Then later, two big hits down the ground – one of which shook the roof of the stadium, then a boundary through long-off.
He reached his fifty off 23 balls, the fastest ever in a T20 World Cup final. After his dismissal, South Africa couldn’t hit a single intentional boundary, with only one boundary coming off the outside edge of a Kagiso Rabada delivery.
Full report later
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf
