In a video shared by the BCCI, Dravid admitted that he is short of words, which doesn’t happen often. In his message for the team, the support staff and all those associated with the team, Dravid said that he couldn’t be more proud of the bunch.

“I’m really short of words but all I just want to say is thank you to everyone for making me a part of what is an incredible memory. I think all of you will remember these moments. I could not be more proud of you guys,” he said.

“To come back the way you did, the way you fought, the way we worked as a team, the resilience, there’s been some disappointments over the years where we’ve come close, we’ve never been able to cross the line. But what this bunch of boys has done, what all of you have done, what everyone in the support staff has done, the hard work that we’ve put in, the sacrifices that we’ve made, you know, I think the whole country is really, really proud of each and every one of you and what you have achieved. And all of you should be,” he added.

“All I can say is thank you so much, man. I really am short of words and I’m not usually short of words, but on a day like today, I think, you know, for me to just be a part of this, I could not be more grateful and I could not be more thankful for the respect, for the kindness, for the effort that each and every one of you have shown to me, to my coaching staff, to my support staff. Thank you so much,” he asserted.

Dravid also thanked the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma for giving him a call in November last year, convincing him to stay as the head coach of the team till the T20 World Cup 2024.

“Just like to say, Ro, thank you very much for making that call to me in November and asking me to continue. I think it’s been such a privilege and a pleasure to work with each and every one of you and every one of you, but also to Ro, thanks for the time. I know as a captain and of course, there’s a lot of time we have to chat, we have to discuss, we have to agree, we have to disagree at times, but thank you so very much. I think, you know, it’s been brilliant to get to know each and every one of you as a person and yeah, I think it’s your moment, guys, it’s your moment.”

“Behind that great team, there’s also successful organization and just like to acknowledge the work of the BCCI and the people behind the scenes for the work and stuff they’ve done for us,” he concluded.

The post “I’m really short of words”: Rahul Dravid’s emotional final speech as head coach appeared first on Cricket Country.

“The team and I are very proud to be able to bring the cup home and are truly touched by how much happiness it has brought everyone back home,” Rohit said in a post on social media on Monday.

He also posted a picture of himself lying flat on his back with his eyes closed, wearing his blue team kit. “This picture epitomizes how I’m feeling right now,” he said. 

“Right now I’m basking in a dream come true for a billion of us,” he added.

After India won a thrilling final against South Africa in Barbados, Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), announced that around 25 people in the team which included coaching and support staff would share nearly $15 million in prize money, a reward for their “talent, determination, and sportsmanship”. The bonus is in addition to a record prize pool of $11.25 million for the tournament, of which India will receive $2.45 million.

The post “The team and I are very proud”: Rohit Sharma after winning the T20 World Cup appeared first on Cricket Country.

“This was my last game as well. No better time to say goodbye. I wanted this (trophy) badly. It’s very hard to put in words. This what I wanted and it happened. I was very desperate for this in my life. Happy that we crossed the line this time,” Rohit told at the post-match press conference.

Rohit left T20Is with 4231 runs in 159 matches, having made five hundreds and 32 fifties. He continues to be active in the Test and ODI formats. A video of the player has gone viral on social media in which he could be seen revealing to the reporters that he didn’t plan to quit T20I cricket initially, but he took the decision considering the ideal situation.

“I didn’t think that I would retire from T20Is, but the situation was such… I thought it was the perfect situation for me. Nothing better than winning the cup and saying goodbye,” Rohit said in the video.

After Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the format, Hardik Pandya is the front runner to take the role of India captaincy in T20Is. When Rohit missed T20I action in 2023, it was Pandya who led the Indian team in the shortest format.

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Kohli, who remains one of the most decorated players in the history of the game, won the T20 World Cup title for the first time in his career, hence completing a unique quadruple of ICC trophies that even the great MS Dhoni didn’t manage to do.

The legendary Indian captain remains as one of the few players in the game to clinch all three ICC white-ball trophies (ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy), but even he hadn’t won the U19 World Cup title.

By adding the T20 World Cup trophy to his cabinet, Kohli clinched all 4 white-ball ICC titles that a player can in his career. Now, the only trophy that is missing from Virat’s collection is the Test Championship.

The post Virat Kohli creates history with T20 World Cup triumph appeared first on Cricket Country.

“I really have felt short of words over the last few hours. I just could not be more proud of this team, the way we had to fight difficult situations. Even today I think it was a great testimony… for the team to lose three wickets in the first six overs, to be in the kind of position we were in, but the boys just kept fighting, they kept believing,” Dravid said after the triumph.

He also added that he doesn’t believe in words or things like redemption, playing down his contribution as the team’s head coach.

“Firstly, there is no redemption. I am not one of those guys who thinks about redemption and those kind 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,” said Dravid.

“I am not a legacy person, I am not looking for legacies, I just feel glad that we could give our best. I think I have been lucky to have been working with an exceptionally professional bunch, intelligent bunch of coaches and other support staff who have made it possible to create a fantastic environment,” he added.

The former Indian batting legend ended his tenure as head coach on a high and though people would’ve expected the team to win more trophies than they did during his time as coach, but this T20 World Cup triumph will live long in the memories of all Indian fans for sure.

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Kohli gave India a great start by smashing Marco Jansen for 3 boundaries in the first over and Rohit continued the tempo by hitting boundaries on the first 2 balls of the second over to Maharaj. However, the spinner made a brilliant recovery by dismissing Rohit on the fourth ball of the over.

The over got even better for South Africa as Maharaj also took the wicket of Rishabh Pant on the final ball of the over to leave India at 23/2 after 2 overs.

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Currently, Rohit is the third highest run-scorer in the tournament with 248 runs at a strike rate of 155.97 after playing seven matches. 

Speaking in a video shared on the official Instagram account of ICC, Bumrah said that in the previous ODI World Cup 2023 Rohit was very proactive and he also revealed that the Indian skipper gave a lot of freedom to his players.

“Rohit Sharma has been absolutely phenomenal. Even in the previous World Cup you know, he has been proactive, he gives a lot of freedom to his players, he lets the players express themselves. When he feels the right time, he shares his own experience during the match. So ya, it feels really great and I feel very happy playing under him and the confidence of the group is also very high,” Bumrah said.

If India does end up winning the T20 World Cup, then it will be Rohit’s first ICC trophy as the Indian captain.

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Since that infamous defeat to the Aussies, the Proteas have not reached the final in any of the ICC tournaments. They have also had poor runs in some tournaments like the 2003 World Cup which they hosted, but failed to qualify for the super sixes and were eliminated by Sri Lanka or the 2007 T20 World Cup which they again hosted but lost to eventual champions, India in the quarter-finals. They reached the semi-finals in many tournaments like the Champions Trophy 2006, World Cup 2007, T20 World Cup 2009 etc but always fell short on the day and were eliminated.

The Proteas made their best push for an ICC trophy during World Cup 2015. They again reached the semi-finals where they faced the hosts, New Zealand. After the batsmen did their job and helped in setting up a great total of 281, the bowlers also did a fine job in the first-half of the Kiwi innings by taking big wickets. South Africa looked set to reach their first-ever World Cup final, however Grant Elliott had other ideas. The batsman’s unbeaten knock of 84 took the game away from South Africa’s hands and it was New Zealand who came out victorious at the end and reached the final. This loss only helped in strengthening the legacy of the ‘chokers’.

South Africa may be the first team to get the choker tag, however in recent years India have also been choking under pressure in big tournaments. The first time when the Men in Blue choked in a big match was during their match against Sri Lanka in the final of the T20 World Cup 2014 where Sri Lanka easily won a rather one-sided game. Then, India ended up losing the semi-finals of World Cup 2015, T20 World Cup 2016 and World Cup 2019 to Australia, West Indies and New Zealand respectively.

Not to forget the thrashing against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2017 final. Then came a dismal run in T20 World Cup 2021 and another semi-final finish in the T20 World Cup 2022 before the team and the fans were introduced to a different level of pain because of the World Cup 2023 final against Australia. Rohit Sharma’s side convincingly lost the final at home against the Aussies which led to many fans labeling the Indian team as chokers as well.

As of right now, both teams can be called as chokers. One hasn’t won an ICC trophy for 26 years while the other hasn’t won it for 11 years. Both teams have had good campaigns in ICC tournaments but have failed to make it all the way on most of the occasions. South Africa may be the bigger chokers right now as 26 years is a far longer time than 11 years and because of the fact that India got more international trophies than them, however if they manage to beat the Men in Blue in the T20 World Cup 2024 final, then they might as well be able to take off that infamous choker tag and hand it over to India.

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India played South Africa as their first-ever match in the T20 format way back in 2006. The game went down to the wire and ended with the Men in Blue coming out on top and winning the match by 6 wickets with just 1 ball remaining.

In the last match that was played between the 2 sides, India absolutely dominated and won the match by a massive 106 runs, bowling out South Africa for only 95 runs in Johannesburg.

India are the favorites going into the T20 World Cup final against South Africa on Saturday, however the Proteas can’t be taken lightly on the basis of their record against India in the past. It can’t be ignored that South Africa have reached the final winning 8 matches on a trot and are in the form of their life right now. That being said, India is also in sublime form and there’s a reason why they have reached the final undefeated. The final on Saturday is expected to be a cracker of a contest.

The post India holds the upper hand over South Africa in head-to-head record in T20Is appeared first on Cricket Country.

The win over England was India’s 49th in the shortest format of the game under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, who has now become the most successful skipper in T20Is, scripting an all-new world record. Rohit overtook Pakistan captain Babar Azam (48) for most wins as T20I skipper, maintaining India’s second-longest winning streak in T20Is (11). 

It was a record-breaking night for Rohit as he also became just the fifth Indian captain to rack up 5,000 runs across all formats. After his influential 57-run knock came to an end, Rohit walked back with 5,033 runs under his belt across all formats as the Indian skipper.

The Indian team will be hoping to end this record-breaking tournament on a high and that can only be done by winning the final against South Africa. A win in the final will finally end India’s 11-year wait for an ICC trophy.

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