Cometh the Hour, Cometh Virat Kohli

India's Virat Kohli helps his country to victory in the T20 Cricket World Cup.

Marcus Williamson
18th September 2024
Image Credit: Royal Challengers Bangalore, Flickr

India won the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA, this June. In a dramatic final India beat South Africa by 7 runs as Player of the Match Virat Kohli helped India stave off a top order collapse by scoring 76, as they set the Pretoria’s the target of 176. Despite a dominant start to their batting innings, South Africa failed to capitalise as Player of the Tournament Jasprit Bumrah kept an economy of 4.5. Hardik Pandya then saw them home taking 3 wickets at the death. 

This was India’s first ICC trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy. It also sweetens a difficult 18 months which saw India lose both the 2023 Cricket World Cup final at home, and the 2021-23 World Test Championship final. This seemingly made it the perfect opportunity for Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to retire from the T20I format. 

Elsewhere, Afghanistan reached their first World Cup semi-final in either the T20I or ODI format by beating Australia in the Super 8 stage. Also, co-hosts USA made it to the Super 8s in their debut at the tournament. There performance at the tournament featured a replay of the first ever international cricket match in their opening game against Canada. They also secured victory against an underperforming Pakistan team in a big upset. 

Defending champions England, meanwhile, lost to India in the semi-finals

Defending Champions England, meanwhile, lost to India in the semi-finals after an up-and-down group stage and Super 8s. The decision to sack white ball coach Matthew Mott was made around a month later with the likes of interim coach Marcus Trescothick and Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara being floated as replacements. 

Other stories from the tournament include that of the wicket in New York. The temporary ground in Long Beach featured a wicket provided by the Adelaide Oval in Australia which was then shipped too, and grown in, Florida before finally being moved to New York. All this resulted in a wicket which was described as “spicy” by former South Africa captain, Faf du Plessis. It was noted for it’s inconsistent bounce which made building decent run totals incredibly difficult.

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