- author, Matthew Henry
- role, BBC sports reporter in Barbados
Cricket’s attempt to make inroads in the US has had a Hollywood-style ending.
Throughout the finals, stories from tournaments past flashed before our eyes.
For India, it was the sting of defeat in the 50-over World Cup final eight months ago, when a crowd of 90,000 had arrived in Ahmedabad but Australia had read the script wrong.
Before that they were beaten heavily by England in Adelaide in 2022, beaten by New Zealand in the Manchester rain in 2019 and, since their last World Cup win, lost to the West Indies in 2016 in front of an expectant home crowd.
India had won at least once before, and for South Africa, the past was nothing but painful.
The Sydney rain, the Allan Donald run-out in 1999, the miscalculation in 2003 and Grant Elliott at Eden Park in 2015 – all these have re-emerged as part of the story.
Either way, this was meant to be an emotional ending to a story about having to overcome inner demons.
Virat Kohli then lunged forward and embraced Hardik Pandya, while Rohit Sharma collapsed to the floor in joy.
This was redemption for Rohit as India captain, just like he was during his disappointment last year.
After playing the lead role in Agony in Ahmedabad, he completed the sequel, Kensington Coronation.
Kohli was part of the supporting cast when he won the 50-over World Cup in 2011. The then 22-year-old carried the great Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders during his victory lap.
This time he was the main character.
He struggled throughout the tournament, floundering as India progressed unbeaten in both the group stage and the semi-finals, but he was always lurking – like a villain who could never be killed.
Kohli hit three fours off his first ball and then, standing comfortably with one arm on his hip and leaning on his bat, he was back on his feet.
His casual flick onto the roof of the Sir Garfield Sobers Pavilion will be replayed again and again, as will Suriya Kumar Yadav’s last-minute catch and Jasprit Bumrah’s blistering run-out of Reeza Hendricks, which had batsmen across the world hiding behind sofas.
In contrast, the South African players became heartbreaking figures.
As the trophy presentation began, David Millar crouched down and looked to the ground, while tears streamed from Heinrich Klaassen’s eyes.
This was about to become a story about Klaassen, who scored 52 off 27 balls to put the Proteas in a difficult position before being consoled by his wife and young daughter in the outfield.
Some will say the South Africa of the past is back. Others will rightly argue that India were just too strong.
Bumrah is the best bowler in the world and after conceding just 18 runs off 24 balls, he will go down in history as one of the great bowlers.
Kuldeep Yadav was in unusually poor form in the final but the past fortnight has shown he is the best spinner in the game, while Rohit’s 92 against Australia was one of his best knocks in the past four weeks.
At crucial moments, Rohit relied on all-rounder Hardik, who thrived, while his Proteas counterpart Marco Jansen faltered.
The win was celebrated wildly in the stands by Indian fans who had flown in to Barbados a few days ago.
Elsewhere, others will roll their eyes.
When England and the USA played last week at Kensington Oval the Rocky theme tune was playing, but this wasn’t because the teams were underdogs.
Already a dominant force in world football, India advanced as the only team to know the venue for the semi-finals in advance.
It didn’t matter: England would have been heavily defeated either at Lord’s or in Guyana, but preventing that scenario from happening again is one of those small tweaks that can improve the T20 World Cup.
Rigging the draw to pit India against Pakistan or England against Australia might increase revenue but reduce the value of the goods.
If the tournament had gone straight from the first stage to the quarter-finals and moved to the Caribbean only, it could have been shortened by a week – two group stages are definitely not necessary.
The International Cricket Council should also be grateful to Josh Hazlewood, because a farcical situation on the field could have unfolded had Australia not been shaken by the reaction to his thoughtless comments about manipulating the result of the match against Scotland.
But overall, this was the best of the three Men’s World Cups (two T20, one 50-over) crammed into the past 21 months.
Its greatest success has been that it has become a truly global competition for the first time, expanding to 20 teams.
While the group stage was a one-sided affair, the inclusion of smaller nations such as Uganda, Papua New Guinea, USA and Nepal brought freshness and excitement.
There were negatives – Uganda being all out for 39 and Oman losing to England inside 17 overs – but those were overwhelmingly outweighed by the USA’s iconic win over Pakistan, Papua New Guinea’s narrow victory over hosts the West Indies and a brilliant performance from Scotland’s Brandon McMullen.
It’s these moments, as well as the final, that make this tournament memorable.
But in the end, India’s name will be known to the world.