India become T20 World Cup champion by beating South Africa

Bridgetown: In a riveting final match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, India triumphed over South Africa to claim their second T20 World Cup championship at Bridgetown stadium on Saturday.

 The match, played at a fully-packed stadium, showcased India's exceptional performance with both the bat and ball.

Opting to bat first after winning the toss, India set an imposing target of 176 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Star batsman Virat Kohli anchored the innings with an outstanding 76 runs, while Axar Patel contributed a vital 47 runs.

South African bowlers Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortje each took 2 wickets, with Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada also chipping in with a wicket apiece.

India started aggressively but faced early challenges, losing their first two wickets at a combined score of 23 runs. Captain Rohit Sharma scored only 9 runs before being caught out, and Rishabh Pant was dismissed on his first ball. Suryakumar Yadav also fell cheaply, adding just 3 runs before being caught.

In response, South Africa struggled to meet the target, ultimately falling short with a total of 169 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their 20 overs. Quinton de Kock contributed 39 runs and Heinrich Klaasen added 52 runs, but their efforts weren't enough to surpass India's total.

 Other notable scores for South Africa included Tristan Stubbs with 31 runs and David Miller with 21 runs. Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, and Kagiso Rabada were dismissed for 4, 4, 2, and 4 runs respectively.

ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Final match

Playing XIs:

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.

South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Aiden Markram (capt), 4 David Miller, 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Heinrich Klaasen 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi/Ottneil Baartman