India vs South Africa: Cracking the final challenge
Emotional India captain Rohit Sharma reflects after semi-final win, eyeing redemption in ICC final against South Africa, who remain unfazed by pressure
Just after beating England in the most comprehensive of manners on Thursday, an emotional India skipper Rohit Sharma took a seat right outside the door of the dressing room. It was a moment of quiet reflection after knocking out the defending champions, a team that had beaten them in the semi-final of the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup.
He was crying then and he was crying now. But the difference couldn’t have been starker. Virat Kohli gave him a pat, as did Suryakumar Yadav but this semi-final win clearly felt substantial. India were into another final of an ICC tournament.
Rohit Sharma’s India know how it feels. They made it to the ODI World Cup final in 2023 and then, with an entire nation holding its breath, they lost. It was an indelible stain on the soul; the kind of thing nobody forgets. This team hasn’t either.
For Rohit, it’s a personal mission. And that in part explains the emotions. But this team knows, better than many others that it all comes down to this — the final. They’ve been in the World Test Championship final and they have lost. They were in the ODI World Cup final and they lost.
No matter how well you have played in the matches leading up to the summit clash, the final is a blank slate. It is where history is made. It is where your nerves are frayed. It is where you need you need to make your mark. But the opposition, South Africa, are also playing some very good cricket and sometimes the best laid plans come to nought.
India and South Africa are the only two unbeaten teams in the competition and they are in the final but their paths couldn’t have been any more different.
Rohit Sharma’s team have been run close in only one match — against Pakistan, which they won by 6 runs. In their others games, they beat Ireland by 8 wickets (with 46 balls remaining), USA by 7 wickets, Afghanistan by 47 runs, Bangladesh by 50 runs, Australia by 24 runs, England by 68 threads.
Aiden Markram’s team, by comparison, have not been as consistent. If anything, they’ve flattered to deceive. But with almost every match, they’ve served a reminder of the eternal truth — only winning matters. The hows and whys of that journey are inconsequential.
Nepal came within two runs of beating them, Bangladesh within 5 runs. The games against Netherlands, England and West Indies were tight as well. But each time they were pushed, they found a way to prevail.
“I don’t really look too much into things like that, to be honest,” Markram said. “It’s a game of cricket. Someone has to win, and someone has to lose ultimately. That’s the name of the game. You take it in your stride. You do get belief, though, from winning close games and potentially winning games that you thought you weren’t going to win. It does a lot for your changing room and the vibe in the changing room. We’ll take a little bit of confidence from that and see if we can put it to any use in the final.”
The Proteas, who will be competing in their first ICC tournament final, are trying to keep things as low key as possible. India are trying to do the same.
“We’ve been very calm as a team,” Rohit said after India’s 68-run win in Georgetown on Thursday afternoon. “We do understand the occasion (of a final), but for us, it’s important to keep calm and composed. That helps us make good decisions. We need to make good decisions through the 40 overs.”
The big players
In clutch games, you want the big players to come to the party. For India that would mean Rohit, Kohli, Surya, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep. But for South Africa, it is hard to pinpoit these characters.
“In this team no one is given the responsibility to win the game for the team,” said left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi. “If you see maybe other teams or the Proteas teams of the past, there was a specific batter that was relied upon. There was a specific bowler that was relied upon. I personally cannot pinpoint which bowler is responsible for making us win or which batter is responsible for making us win.
“And I’m sure you guys have seen that throughout the campaign as well. Normally, in most teams, if you get one or two of the main batters out, the team panics. Whereas with us, who’s that guy? Nobody. Everybody is responsible for doing their bit to make us win, and that’s just the way we’ve rolled.”
India have found their heroes too but by virtue of being so dominant, their contributions don’t stand out in quite the same way. The thing that has worked really well for India is how they have adapted in the middle.
“I thought we played the conditions really well,” said Rohit after the semi-final. “That’s been the success story for us so far. If bowlers and batters understand and play according to the conditions, things fall in place. It’s very pleasing how we came through.”
And now the stage is set for the final act. Both teams will want to fend off the emotions for now and live in the moment. There is history to be made but only one can make it.
