Jasprit Bumrah rose to the occasion once again as India made a roaring start in their defence of 177 in the T20 World Cup 2024 final against South Africa being played at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. (Match Blog | Scorecard)
Virat Kohli hit his first half-century of the tournament and Axar Patel smashed a brilliant 47 after being promoted to number five in the batting line-up to take India to 176/7 in their 20 overs.
India's defence began with a tight first over from Arshdeep Singh who gave away just six runs. Bumrah was handed the ball for the second over and on just his third delivery, the pacer delivered a stunner.
Bumrah delivered a length ball which swung away late from Reeza Hendricks' straight bat defence. The ball swung past Hendricks' bat and kissed the top of off stump to give India their first breakthrough.
Hendricks looked clueless as Bumrah ended a horror World Cup for the South Africa opener who could amass just 113 runs in the nine times that he batted. He could not score a single half-century and his strike rate was an abysmal 87.5.
Indian team meanwhile burst into celebrations after drawing first blood in the all-important final for both the teams.
Bumrah's opening wicket paved way for another one as Arshdeep struck in the very next over. Arshdeep forced Proteas skipper Aiden Markram to edge one right in the mitts of the wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant.
Chasing 177 to win their first-ever ICC tournament, South Africa managed to reach 42 in the powerplay despite two early blows.
While South Africa are eyeing a maiden ICC trophy, India on the other hand are aiming to end their knockout blues and win first ICC trophy in more than a decade.
