India spinner R Ashwin and former India cricketer Robin Uthappa shared their emotional reactions to the Men in Blue ending their ICC title drought and winning the T20 World Cup 2024. India defeated South Africa in the final in Barbados on June 29 by 7 runs.
Virat Kohli was named the Player of the Final for his 76-run knock and Jasprit Bumrah won the Player of the Tournament. In the aftermath, Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirements from T20I format.
The pain and misery of the 11 years between the last trophy and now, was felt hard by each and every one of the Indian fans. But, it hit a little deeper for the likes of players, such as Robin Uthappa, and R Ashwin, who shared their emotions and thoughts on the long-awaited drought of trophies coming to an end.
“Unbelievable. I have watched cricket through the years, I have played it, I have won trophies such as the World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013. But, the way that the players emoted upon winning, what it meant to them all, with Dravid bowing out in 2007 to Rohit and Virat coming so close to winning multiple titles, it was truly a full circle moment without any doubt,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Uthappa, on the other hand, remained extremely passionate and in tears as the former T20 World Cup winner discussed the personal difficulties and tribulations that every national team player faces.
“Had you talked to me 20 minutes earlier, I would have been in tears. I was so full of emotion, thinking about each individual player and what they had been through. To have put with the criticism, the trolling, to go through the struggles and hardships and hate, is not easy.
For people to keep continually doubting your ability, you begin to doubt yourself at some point and you being to ask yourself, “Is it possible?” I could feel every person’s emotion so strongly. I cried for each of them after their victory. I thanked God, and I now thank every cricketer who’s played for India. This win was so long in the making,” Uthappa stated.
Uthappa discussed the lengthy and grueling path that Indian cricket great and current India head coach Rahul Dravid had to go through personally in order to finally hold a World Cup trophy.
“Look at Rahul Dravid’s career, as a coach and as a player. Think about how many years he’s played. And in his last game as the coach and possibly his last day of ever being associated with the BCCI, that is the day he finally gets his first trophy.
We saw that 50-year-old man celebrate like a 5-year-old kid. This is the beauty of sport. They all deserved to be world champions,” concluded Uthappa.
