India defeated South Africa in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup by 7 runs.
India and South Africa played an all-time great T20I game in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados on June 29. India batted first after winning the toss and posted 176/7 thanks to 76 by Virat Kohli, 47 by Axar Patel, and 27 by Shivam Dube.
Quinton de Kock scored 39 and gave a good start to the Proteas, while Tristan Stubbs (31) and Heinrich Klaasen (52) kept South Africa ahead in the run chase. However, India made a good comeback in the last five overs with South Africa needing 30 runs in 30 balls.
Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh bowled amazing and tight 18th and 19th overs, leaving South Africa needing 16 runs to win in the final over, with David Miller on strike and Hardik Pandya bowling.
The decisive moment came when Pandya bowled a wide full toss on the first ball, and Miller hit it straight towards the long-off boundary, where Suryakumar Yadav took a very good juggling catch. In the end, India won by 7 runs, breaking their ICC trophy drought.
Recently, speaking on a podcast, Faf du Plessis was asked about that catch by Suryakumar Yadav, and he pointed out that the boundary rope at long off was pushed back a bit, giving Suryakumar a few extra rooms to take the catch.
He stated that had the rope been where it was supposed to be, Miller’s shot would’ve been a six and South Africa would’ve won the T20 World Cup.
“Fantastic catch! But after the game, when you look at the boundary rope, you can see that it is curving in an unusual way. South Africa was asking, ‘Why isn't the rope where it should be?’ Because if the rope had been where it should have been, it would have been six. That's how small the margins are. If the rope had been a little further out, South Africa could have won the World Cup. That ball had to go,” Du Plessis said on the Prakhar Gupta podcast.
"The fact that he caught it on the boundary shows how small the margins are. But that's the beauty of sport. If money or influence could buy you trophies, sport would be boring, right? Sport is amazing because anything can happen on the day," said Faf Du Plessis.
It was heartbreak for South Africa, as they lost despite reaching the T20 World Cup final for the first time. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja retired from T20Is after the T20 World Cup win, and Rahul Dravid stepped down as India's head coach.
India successfully defended their title, winning the 2026 T20 World Cup that was held in India and Sri Lanka. They became the first team to win the T20 World Cup three times and the first to win back-to-back titles.