A year on since their historic triumph in Barbados in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa, India’s title-winning captain Rohit Sharma had recalled the nerves he had felt on the big day at Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval. While the match-day panic had kicked in as early as 7 AM on the day of the final, Rohit also revealed how a game-changing moment from Rishabh Pant had brought back scarring memories of the wicket-keeper’s accident in 2022.
With South Africa’s 177-run chase moving down to the wire, it was Pant’s instinctive intelligence that stalled the momentum of Proteas power-hitters Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller. In his first tournament back in India colours after being out for nearly 14 months due to his injury setback from a road accident, Pant had failed to light up the final with the bat, bagging a duck. However, Pant was instrumental in orchestrating a stoppage in play by signalling to his previously injured knee as South Africa required only 26 runs in four overs with six wickets in hand.
“See, Hardik (Pandya) has come to bowl there. So, we were discussing with Hardik what to do. I didn’t know what had happened before. I genuinely thought that something had happened to him. The accident he had, I thought he was just trying to. But actually, it was just to stop the game a little bit,” Rohit recently told Star Sports in an interview recalling the final.
Off the first ball in resumption of play, Hardik forced half-centurion Klaasen to chase a wide deliver outside off-stump, handing a catch to Pant. India would eventually pull off a dramatic seven-run victory and end their long ICC title drought, lasting 11 years.
Rishabh Pant about his fake injury in the T20 World Cup Final 😅pic.twitter.com/Gn3lo5zBy4
— Don Cricket 🏏 (@doncricket_) October 12, 2024
“The momentum was with them. So, it was very important to break that. So, I think we went back to that. Eventually, Hardik dismissed Klaasen,” Rohit added.
‘Pant Sahab used his wits’
The India captain had previously lauded Pant’s intelligence in the moment during a Kapil Sharma Show last year.
“We had to break the rhythm. As I was setting the field and talking to bowlers, suddenly I saw Pant fallen on the ground. The physiotherapist had arrived and was taping his knee. Klaasen was waiting for the match to start again. I am not saying it’s the only reason (he did so), but it could be one of them – Pant Sahab used his wits and things worked out in our favour,” Rohit had said.
Reflecting on the incident, Pant had previously told Star Sports: “I actually thinking what to do because the momentum had suddenly shifted (in South Africa’s favour), they had scored plenty of runs in 2-3 overs, so I was thinking when will that moment come when we will the World Cup final.
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“I was asking the physio to take time. When Rohit bhai asked if my knee is fine I said, ‘Bhaiya, bas acting kar raha tha‘ (I was acting all this while). Sometimes you have to do these types of things in matches. I’m not saying it works every time, but it does work sometimes and if it works at that kind of a moment, then nothing like it,” he added.
