Ro’ad to victory: Rohit Sharma exults as India win their first ICC title since 2013
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Rohit Sharma felt his knees give way. Ironically enough, this was the moment when the weight on his shoulders had actually, finally, lifted. In the early part of his career, he faced the rather strange challenge of being talented. Being really, really good at this really, really cool thing apparently meant he had to succeed every single time.
In the later part of his career, he faced the equally strange challenge of being a winner. His teams would lay waste to others and make the final, but then they would slip up. He was destiny’s imperfect child and he’s had to wrestle with that feeling forever. And then all of a sudden, one Saturday morning, he didn’t have to. Because he was now not just good but also good enough. That realisation overwhelmed him.
He sank to the floor And began slapping it silly.
Gotta fall to rise again: Seven months ago, India lost the ODI World Cup final at home
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He laughed.
Lemme rest on my laurels now: Rohit enjoys a lie down while surrounded by his team
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He cried.
Bawls out: Rohit lets his emotions out after India’s first T20 World Cup win since 2007
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He even went around kissing people.
All of South Africa’s history in World Cups played out in the space of about 30 seconds.
Promise: They came into the tournament with perhaps the best looking middle order they have ever assembled. In the final, with 16 to win, one of them was facing a juicy full toss.
Excellence: They have distilled it into moments and carried it across campaigns. When David Miller swung his bat and sent the ball soaring, South Africa were on course to become the first ever unbeaten T20I world champions.
Heartbreak, and worse, the what ifs. What if the rain hadn’t come in 1992? What if Lance Klusener and Allan Donald had completed that single in 1999? What if AB de Villiers had broken the stumps with the ball instead of without it in 2015? What if Suryakumar Yadav’s shoes were one size bigger in 2024? The human mind isn’t built to deal with what ifs like these. It is haunting.
The ghosts of 2024: at the start of the final over, South Africa needed 16 to win, but David Miller’s dismissal off the first ball swung the game in India’s favour
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South Africa are strong. They will heal.
Hurts so bad: South Africa were unbeaten through the World Cup, but couldn’t take it all the way
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They will be back.
One final hurdle: Aidan Markram walks past the World Cup trophy
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And who knows, the next generation might come to remember them as serial winners.
We made history (kinda): this was South Africa’s first senior men’s World Cup final
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“When you are batting – the happiness is of course there. Everyone likes it inside. But when you field and catch something like that, or you hit a good run-out or stop a run, the happiness spreads to nine to ten people.” This was Suryakumar Yadav ten days before the final. Before he found himself running full pelt to his left. Before he knew exactly when to slow down and gather himself. Before he went up on tiptoe and reached out behind him – into space where he is not allowed – and came up with a catch that sent way more than nine to people into rapture.
Safe-hands Surya: SKY turned the game on its head with the boundary catch off Miller
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At 17, he would have watched India win the World Cup at the Wankhede. At 21, he was bought by the IPL franchise that called that stadium home. A few months later he became champion for the first time. Then again at 23, 25 and 27. At 28, he left in search of a new challenge. At 30, he returned. Hardik Pandya would have felt nothing but pride as he put on that Mumbai Indians jersey again. This time as captain. He had grown up. He had learnt responsibility. And he’d come back home a better man. Except home wasn’t like he remembered it. They hated him now. They hated his ambition. They painted him the usurper. “I wanted to cry,” Hardik said, “But I didn’t. People who were happy with my misery, I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. And I will never. Now look at fate.”
Look at me now, haters, I’m a world champion
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It was well past midnight in India by the time they were crowned winners. But it looks like Virat Kohli‘s kids had permission to stay up past bedtime.
The joker king: Kohli enjoys some time with his family via a video call
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And then there are visuals that do not need words to tell the story.
Including this one of a 51-year old man who had to wait until his last day on the job – which took up his entire adult life – to get what he deserved.
Silver-haired but I got silverware: Dravid was India’s captain in the Caribbean when they made a first-round exit from the 2007 World Cup
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Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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