Former India captain and renowned commentator Ravi Shastri picked his favourite moment from the T20 World Cup 2024 which concluded on June 29 with Rohit Sharma's side lifting the title.
India defeated South Africa in the final in a close encounter as Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya’s heroics propelled the Blues to victory despite coming so close to defeat.
Talking on the latest episode of the ICC Review podcast, Shastri named the India vs Pakistan group match as one of his favourite moments. He also revealed the match-turning point, as Pakistan were comfortably set at 80/3 with Mohammad Rizwan leading the chase but Jasprit Bumrah changed the potential outcome of the encounter.
“I think India-Pakistan because India were made to fight there and realise what the right combination should be going forward in the tournament. That and then of course the final, those final five overs [from the T20 World Cup final],” Shastri said.
“I'd say one was Jasprit [Bumrah] getting Mohammad Rizwan. Extremely crucial, because that could have tilted the balance of the game. And it happened on the first ball of a new spell,” he added.
Shastri then named Bumrah’s spell in the final against the Proteas as the pacer only conceded four runs in the 16th over when the match was slipping from India’s grasp.
“Brought back into the attack and then getting it to reverse and sneak through bat and pad [of Marco Jansen], I thought that was a very, very important wicket at that time,” Shastri recalled.
“Hardik [Pandya] had done the main damage by taking Klaasen [in the previous over] but I thought back-to-back, that over and that wicket was extremely important.”
“He just showed the world what it takes and you know, it's not often in your career when you have a ball in your hand and you say, do this and the ball does that,” Shastri said of Bumrah.
Bumrah was named the Player of the Tournament as he took 15 wickets at an average of 8.26, which led Shastri to compare the ace pacer to three former greats of the game.
“Very few have done it, I thought Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis] had it in their prime when they played white-ball cricket. Shane Warne had it where he could literally tell the ball, go there, pitch there, hit leg stump,” Shastri said.
“People who are on top of the game have that ability. I think Bumrah had that in this World Cup.”
- Jasprit Bumrah
