2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup final

The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup final was a Twenty20 International cricket match played at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on 29 June 2024 to determine the winner of the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. It was played between South Africa and India.

India defeated South Africa by 7 runs to win their second T20 World Cup title. Virat Kohli was named Player of the Match for scoring 76 runs off 59 balls, while Jasprit Bumrah won Player of the Tournament for taking a tournament-high 15 wickets. The final was also the last T20I match played by Kohli, Indian captain Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja.

Background
On 22 September 2023, the ICC released the venues that would host matches across the tournament, with the Kensington Oval in Barbados being named as the venue for the final. On 5 January 2024, the ICC announced the tournament's schedule, with the final taking place on 29 June. This was the second T20 World Cup final played at Barbados, after the 2010 final.

South Africa played their maiden T20 World Cup final, while India reached their third final, having been champions in 2007 and runners-up in 2014. Both teams qualified for the final unbeaten, with neither of them losing a Group Stage or a Super 8 game. Before this match, India and South Africa had played each other six times in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, with India recording four wins (2007, 2010, 2012, 2014) and South Africa winning two (2009 and 2022).

Overview

 * Source: ESPNcricinfo

South Africa
South Africa began their T20 World Cup campaign with a victory over Sri Lanka at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, and went on to defeat Netherlands and Bangladesh at the same venue. After defeating Nepal at Arnos Vale, they finished the Group stage as Group D winners. In the Super 8 stage, they defeated co-hosts United States at North Sound, defending champions England at Gros Islet, and former champions and co-hosts West Indies at North Sound, finishing as winners of Group 2.

South Africa then defeated Afghanistan in the semi-final at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in San Fernando in Trinidad and Tobago to earn their place at their maiden T20 World Cup final.

India
India began their T20 World Cup campaign with a victory over Ireland at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, and went on to defeat Pakistan and co-hosts United States at the same venue. Their match with Canada was abandoned for heavy rainfall at the Central Broward Park in Florida, and India finished the Group stage as winners of Group A. In the Super 8 stage, they defeated Afghanistan at Kensington Oval in Barbados, Bangladesh at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, and Australia at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Gros Islet in Saint Lucia, finishing as winners of Group 1.

India then defeated defending champions England in the semi-final at the Providence Stadium in Guyana to earn their place at the T20 World Cup final for the third time.

Match officials
On 28 June 2024, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named New Zealand's Chris Gaffaney and England's Richard Illingworth as the on-field umpires, along with England's Richard Kettleborough as the third umpire, Australia's Rod Tucker as the reserve umpire, and West Indies' Richie Richardson as match referee.
 * On-field umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZ) and Richard Illingworth (Eng)
 * TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (Eng)
 * Reserve umpire: Rod Tucker (Aus)
 * Match referee: Richie Richardson (WI)

Team and toss
Both teams remained unchanged from their semi-final matches. India's captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first.

India innings
Virat Kohli, being out of form for the majority of the tournament, helped with a quick start to the Indian innings by scoring three boundaries in the first over from Marco Jansen. Then Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant were dismissed early in the next over, bowled by Keshav Maharaj. Soon Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the fourth over, leaving India at 34 runs for 3 wickets. Virat Kohli and Axar Patel tried to stabilize the innings and the partnership managed to score 72 runs leaving India on 106 runs for 4 wickets. But Axar Patel was run out thanks to a quick throw by wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock. Shivam Dube joined Kohli in the middle and the duo managed to score 50 runs off 32 balls. While attempting a hit off Jansen, Kohli was caught by Rabada. In the last over bowled by Anrich Nortje, India scored 9 runs, with Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja dismissed and India scoring 176 runs for 7 wickets. Kohli was the highest run-scorer for India scoring 76 runs off 59 balls while Keshav Maharaj was the best bowler for South Africa as he picked up 2 wickets for 23 runs in 3 overs.

South Africa innings
South Africa had a slow start with the early dismissals of Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram leaving South Africa on 12 runs off 2 wickets. Quinton de Kock and Tristan Stubbs managed to put a partnership of 58 runs off 38 balls before Stubbs was dismissed by Axar Patel. In the middle of the 13th over Quinton de Kock was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh leaving South Africa on 106 runs off 4 wickets. Heinrich Klaasen's fiery innings of 52 runs from just 27 balls helped South Africa to go past 150, which included scoring 24 runs of an over from Axar Patel's bowling. At one point, South Africa needed 30 runs from 30 balls, an easy target. With 26 needed from 24 balls, Klassen was dismissed by Hardik Pandya which was the turning point of the match and India got the breakthrough after a lengthy break between 15th and 16th over of the match. Soon Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Marco Jansen in the 18th over and conceded only two runs. Arshdeep stepped up allowing only 4 runs to be scored of his over, with South Africa needing 16 from the last over. The last over was bowled by Hardik Pandya and on the first ball of the over he took the wicket of David Miller thanks to a well judged catch by Suryakumar Yadav in the deep. Suryakumar Yadav's catch was hailed as "one of the greatest catches of all time in cricket history" by on-air commentator Ian Smith, who remarked "Oh my god, I believe I've just seen athleticism at its very best". Soon Rabada was also dismissed on the fifth ball. As South Africa required 9 runs from the last bowl, Pandya conceded only a single due to which India won the match by 7 runs. Klaasen was the highest run scorer for South Africa while Pandya was the best bowler for India as he took 3 wickets and conceded only 20 runs from his 3 overs. Bumrah and Arshdeep got 2 wickets each while Axar Patel took 1 wicket.

Match scorecard

 * Source: ESPNcricinfo

1st innings

 * - align=left
 * Extras || (nb 1, w 6) || 7 || ||  ||  ||
 * - align=right
 * Total || (7 wickets; 20 overs) || 176 || || 13 || 7 || RR: 8.80

Fall of wickets: 1/23 (Rohit, 1.4 ov), 2/23 (Pant, 1.6 ov), 3/34 (Suryakumar, 4.3 ov), 4/106 (Patel, 13.3 ov), 5/163 (Kohli, 18.5 ov), 6/174 (Dube, 19.4 ov), 7/176 (Jadeja, 19.6 ov)

2nd innings

 * - align=left
 * Extras || (b 1, lb 4, nb 1, w 3) || 9 || ||  ||  ||
 * - align=right
 * Total || (8 wickets; 20 overs) || 169 ||  || 13 || 8 || RR: 8.45

Fall of wickets: 1/7 (Hendricks, 1.3 ov), 2/12 (Markram, 2.3 ov), 3/70 (Stubbs, 8.5 ov), 4/106 (de Kock, 12.3 ov), 5/151 (Klaasen, 16.1 ov), 6/156 (Jansen, 17.4 ov), 7/161 (Miller, 19.1 ov), 8/168 (Rabada, 19.5 ov)

Post-match
This was India's first win in a major ICC event in 11 years, with their previous win being the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. India also became the first team in T20 World Cup history to win the title undefeated throughout the tournament. Rohit Sharma became the second Indian captain to win the T20 World Cup after MS Dhoni (2007). India became the first Asian country to win two ICC Men's T20 World Cups (2007 and 2024) and the third ICC full member to do so after West Indies and England.

India received $2.45 million and South Africa secured $1.28 million in prize money from the ICC. Following India's victory, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from the Twenty20 International format. Rahul Dravid's tenure as India's head coach came to an end after this tournament.

Reaction
The match was hailed as one of the closest fought finals in T20 World Cup history as the match swung in favour of both teams, culminating in South Africa needing to score 16 runs off the last 6 balls. Ravi Shastri who was on air summed up the emotions running high among the fans with his commentary: "It's up in the air and its India who win the T20 World Cup after 17 years. The drought is over. An ICC tournament win after 2013".

Suryakumar Yadav's presence of mind and athleticism were lauded when he took a difficult catch by running a long way across near the boundary, with his left foot close to the boundary cushion. Action replays suggested that it was a fair and clean catch, as confirmed by the video umpire. Subsequently, some fans on social media made unverified speculation that his shoe might have flicked the boundary cushion, before a new video showing the catch from a different angle dispelled the doubts and confirmed the catch's validity. The catch was also widely likened to that of former Indian captain Kapil Dev in the final of the 1983 Cricket World Cup, where Dev took an important running catch to dismiss West Indies' hard-hitting batsman Vivian Richards.

South Africa faced criticism for choking in the closing phase of the match, as they were favoured to chase down the total comfortably at one stage. After the dismissal of Klaasen, South Africa's lower-order batters, mostly comprising genuine frontline bowlers, failed to cope with the tight bowling strategies of India and could not support David Miller at the other end, causing debates over South Africa's vulnerable low-order batting. South Africa captain Aiden Markram admitted that the defeat was a tough pill to swallow and described it as a "gut-wrenching and bittersweet ending to a great campaign", but heaped praise on his teammates who had helped the team reach the final as one of only two unbeaten sides of the tournament.

Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated team India on winning the tournament. The South African Government appreciated the South Africa team's efforts in a post on Twitter.

Celebrations
Major cities in India such as Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Jammu celebrated the win late into the night. Indian supporters in New York City, London, Barbados and various other overseas locations also celebrated the win by hoisting Indian flags and setting off firecrackers. Later, BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced a cash reward of inr 1250000000 for Team India for the win. The Indian team's departure from Barbados was delayed by over two days due to Hurricane Beryl, which caused a shutdown of air traffic from the island.

On 4 July 2024, the Indian team was greeted with a warm welcome by the fans as they landed in Delhi. The players and support staff met with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi. They then flew to Mumbai, taking a 2-kilometre open bus ride from Nariman Point to the Wankhede Stadium, for which an estimated 300,000 fans gathered at the Marine Drive. At the Wankhede Stadium, the team was felicitated by the BCCI and a cheque of inr 1250000000 was handed over by Jay Shah and BCCI President Roger Binny.

Broadcasting
The final match was broadcast live in India on Star Sports, free-to-air broadcaster DD Sports and free on OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar. In South Africa the match was broadcast live on SuperSport. The ICC named the following panel of commentators for the final: Harsha Bhogle, Ian Bishop, Carlos Brathwaite, Nasser Hussain, Dinesh Karthik, Kass Naidoo, Shaun Pollock, Ricky Ponting, Ravi Shastri, Ian Smith and Dale Steyn.