India’s T20 World Cup triumph under Rohit Sharma won India the ICC silverware in the shortest format 17 years after MS Dhoni’s team clinched the trophy in the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2007. But it looked unlikely when South Africa were in complete control of the run-chase in the final earlier this year in Barbados, until Hardik Pandya struck to change the momentum.
It was the first ball of the 17th over that triggered the shift in momentum.Chasing India’s 176 for 7, Heinrich Klaasen (52 off 27 balls) was threatening to take the game away from India. With the Proteas having six wickets in hand and Klaasen going great guns alongside David Miller, India had their backs to the wall. But Pandya struck at the start of a fresh over to remove Klaasen.
Talking about the climax of the final on the episode of comedy series ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’, Rohit revealed what was happening in the middle between the two teams, which was beyond the battle between bat and ball.
After India had Klaasen back in the hut, the Indian team decided to get under the skin of the South Africans through verbal volleys.
“Hum saare ladko ne ek saath aa ke unke batsmen ko ek do cheezein boli, woh mai abhi yahan pe nahi share kar sakta hu, par woh karhna zaruri tha kyuki woh match humko kaise bhi karke jeetna tha (we all said a few things to their batsmen, which I can’t share but it was important to do that because we wanted to win at any cost),” said Rohit about India’s thrilling seven-run victory.
“Even if we get fined after winning, that’s not a problem. That was in my mind. So I told the boys ‘jisko jo bolna hai bolo bindaas, umpires and referees ko hum baad mei handle karenge (just say whatever you want to say, we will handle the umpires and referees later),” Rohit revealed, sending the audience into splits.
Appearing with Rohit on the comedy show were his teammates Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh.
Hardik ended the match with a dream spell, which also included the wicket of Miller, who was South Africa’s last hope and was left heartbroken to see Suryakumar Yadav pulling off a terrific catch at the edge of the boundary.
Rohit and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from T20Is after India’s victory.