CNN —India produced a brilliant performance to defeat South Africa by just seven runs in a dramatic men’s T20 World Cup final, ending a long 13-year wait for the cricket-obsessed nation since its last World Cup win.
Victory sparked jubilant and emotional celebrations for India after a year of heartbreak for many of its players who lost to Australia in the finals of both the ODI Cricket World Cup and World Test Championship.
India was under pressure early in its innings as some sharp South African bowling reduced it to 39-3 after five overs.
South Africa continued to build steadily and almost found itself in a match-winning position when Heinrich Klaasen produced an astonishing performance in the 15th over, hitting Axar for 24 runs and racing towards a half century in just 23 balls, the fastest ever in a men’s T20 World Cup final, according to Opta.
That gave India the platform it needed and it held on to take the victory by the narrowest of margins.
Persons:
Suryakumar Yadav, Victory, Axar Patel, Virat Kohli, Rabada, India's Suryakumar Yadav, Randy Brooks, Axar, Quinton de Kock, Shivam Dube, Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Reeza Hendricks, Robert Cianflone, De, Tristan Stubbs, Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, stymieing, Marco Jansen, David Miller, Alex Davidson
Organizations:
CNN, Cricket, India, Getty, Axar, ICC, South
Locations:
India, South Africa, Bridgetown, Barbados, Australia, AFP, De Kock, De Kock . South Africa