Sachin Tendulkar's epic 'life comes full circle' post on Dravid; Yuvraj, Sehwag can't keep calm after India's T20WC win

Rahul Dravid may have disregarded the whole 'Do it for Dravid' campaign on social media in the build-up to the final in Barbados on Saturday, but the India legend emerged as the central figure after India lifted the T20 World Cup title for the second time in history after beating South Africa by just seven runs. It was in the West Indies, where India, under the leadership of Dravid, had suffered a humiliating group-stage exit. He later missed the cut to make the 2011 ODI World Cup team. But "life came full circle" for the Indian team and for Dravid, as noted by Sachin Tendulkar, with the T20 World Cup win at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.

India scripted an unbeaten run in the tournament to lift their first T20 World Cup trophy in 17 years, their first world title in 13 years and a maiden ICC championship in 11 years. They almost suffered a scare when Heinrich Klaasen clobbered 24 runs in Axar Patel's final over to smash a 23-ball fifty, the quickest by a batter in a T20 World Cup final, which brought the equation down to 26 off 24.

However, India bounced back in the blink of an eye after Hardik Pandya dismissed Klaasen in this third over, before Jasprit Bumrah left South Africa wounded with another dismissal in his final over, conceding just two runs. Hardik later returned for the final over, that witnessed the stunning catch from Suryakumar Yadav to dismiss David Miller as India survived the thriller.

Following the win, former India cricketer Sachin penned a king-sized tweet on his "friend" Rahul Dravid. He wrote: "Every star added to the Team India jersey inspires our nation’s starry-eyed children to move one step closer to their dreams. India gets the 4th star, our second in @T20WorldCup. Life comes full circle for Indian cricket in the West Indies. From our lows in the 2007 ODI World Cup to becoming a cricketing powerhouse and winning the T20WC in 2024. Very happy for my friend Rahul Dravid, who missed out on the 2011 World Cup win but his contribution to this T20 World Cup victory has been immense. I am so happy for him."

The former World Cup winner also hailed Rohit Sharma for his brilliant captaincy throughout the tournament and for helping the team bounce back to a world-title victory from the heartbreak in the 2023 ODI World Cup final last November.

"What can one say about @ImRo45? Superb captaincy! To put the 2023 ODI World Cup loss behind and to keep all our players motivated towards the T20 World Cup is commendable. @Jaspritbumrah93's Player of the Tournament award as well as @imVkohli's Player of the Match award are both well-deserved. They were just superb when it mattered," he added. “Along with Rahul, Paras Mhambrey and Vikram Rathour also made their international debuts in 1996. It was wonderful to see Team India excel under the guidance of this class of '96. A total team effort. Hearty congratulations to all the players, coaches, support staff, and @BCCI.”

Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag, who formed the iconic Fab 5 of Team India at the turn of the century, was also ecstatic after Dravid claimed his first senior ICC trophy.

He tweeted: “Two unbelievable things that happened in Barbados. Still can’t get over that catch from Surya and so happy for Rahul Dravid to lay his hands on an ICC trophy as coach.”

Two-time World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh also joined the bandwagon as he namedropped Rohit, Virat Kohli, Dravid and Jasprit Bumrah in his tweet.

The Rohit-led side became the third team to win the T20 World Cup final while defending the target after India in 2007 and West Indies in 2012. India became the first team to win a T20 World Cup by being unbeaten throughout the tournament and the third side to lift the trophy twice after West Indies (2012 and 2016) and England (2010 and 2022).