India erupts in celebration, salutes its World Cup legends

As the final ball of the ICC T20 World Cup final was bowled, Rohit Sharma, fielding at cover, held his arms up in triumph and then collapsed, face first, to the ground. He slapped the ground in joy before letting the tears flow. Rahul Dravid, in the dressing room, got out of his chair, let out a joyful scream and punched the air in delight. The tears flowed a little later.

Elsewhere, Virat Kohli, for once spared us the histrionics. He put his arms up, closed his eyes and looked to the heavens at the Kensington Oval.

Back in India, meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people spilled onto the streets early on Sunday morning in raucous celebration, their faces painted in the tricolours, wearing the signature India blue. From Jammu to Chennai, from Hyderabad to Kolkata, nearly every town and city in the country stayed up late, a collective sigh of relief that echoed the euphoria thousands of kilometres away in Barbados.

The trophy was won, and even before the raw emotion of the moment could leave the system, Kohli – the player of the final – announced he was done with T20Is. A little later, in the post-match press conference, Rohit did the same. Dravid had already announced his stint with the team end after the World Cup. It was, for all three, the perfect exit.

As Ian Bishop said on X, “Not many sportsmen get to write their own exit script, or time their departure from a game, or format with precision. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid have done it to perfection here.”

What was truly special about the trio was the bond they shared, the trust they had in each other. Dravid had become the coach just after Kohli’s messy departure as skipper in 2021. Rohit took over, smoothed out the rough waters and simply looked to keep taking the team forward in the most professional manner. It could have so easily escalated into an ego battle but neither Dravid nor Rohit wanted any of that.

Over the last three years, we have seen that Kohli played along as well. He bought into their ideas, shared his own views and stayed the consummate team man. The World Cup triumph has been two years in the making; two years that saw Rohit and Kohli play very little of the format. But Dravid trusted their experience and skill and they didn’t disappoint.

This wasn’t ever a teacher-student relationship. Rahul bhai, they call him. A big brother who would put a hand around their shoulder and tell them what needed to be told. It would be the captain’s call but Rahul would say his piece. It was Rohit’s reaction to these inputs that made the bond stronger.

“I will miss him as a person, forget the cricket and forget the captain and everything,” said Dravid after the win. “I hope we’ll still be friends (laughs). What has really impressed me in all of this is just what kind of person he is, the kind of respect he has shown me, the kind of care and commitment he has had for the team, the energy he has had to spend and he has never backed down from it. So, for me it is the person I will remember the most. His cricketing – he will be a great captain and a player, score runs and win trophies but it is as a person that I’ll miss him the most.”

The feeling was mutual. In the post-match presser, Rohit returned the compliment.

“He - more than any one of us, I think he deserved that trophy,” said Rohit when asked about Dravid. “What he has done for Indian cricket for the past 20-25 years, I think this was the only thing that was left in his cabinet. I am very happy from all of us on behalf of the entire team that we could actually do this for him. You saw how proud he was and how excited he was.”

It didn’t end there. Rohit had something to say about Kohli as well.

“Look, he’s been a champion player without a doubt,” said Rohit. “And we all know what he has done for us. At some point everyone has to say goodbye to the game and Virat was very clear that this is what he wanted to do; he was very clear before the start of the tournament as well. I am very happy for him that he batted like he did in the final. I know the quality that he has, the big games and all of that. He is going to come good. When we wanted him the most, he came out and performed the way he did.”

With all three stalwarts pulling in the same direction, there was never even a murmur of discontent from the dressing room. And that is what made the team stronger still. India has the financial muscle and great reserve strength. And while that helps, it also piles on the pressure.

That is where the advantage of a united team showed. It was in the simple things – sharing a meal or a joke or simply not taking things too seriously. Having Dravid in the dressing room meant having context. For many, matches are about revenge; about redemption. But the India coach knew better than most that it is just a game.

“Firstly, there is no redemption,” said Dravid. “I am not one of those guys who thinks about redemption and those kinds of things. There are a lot of other players I know who have not been able to win a trophy… I was lucky to be given the opportunity to coach, and I was lucky that this bunch of boys made it possible for me to be able to win a trophy and celebrate.”

No dream is ever chased alone. That is something Dravid believed in and he will probably find a lot of takers for that line of thought in the India dressing room, especially now. His stint might be done but that is a lesson worth remembering; for that is what trophies are made of.