India’s former head coach Rahul Dravid recalled the emotions during the 2024 T20 World Cup final against South Africa. The Men in Blue were under the pump as they had posted 176 runs on the board, which was slightly under-par.

The Proteas were in a shoo-in position as they needed 30 runs to win off the last five overs with Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller at the crease. Jasprit Bumrah conceded only four runs off the 16th over and then Hardik Pandya was able to account for Heinrich Klaasen with a wide delivery on the off-stump.

Subsequently, in the last over, Suryakumar Yadav took an unbelievable catch to send back David Miller. Eventually, India was able to register a thrilling seven-run win.

“We were thinking that if Quinton got out, then we’d have Miller and Klaasen for the seven overs, and the target was gettable. But you get the wicket of Klaasen or Miller, and the game could change,” Rahul Dravid said on ‘Kutti Stories with Ash’.

When South Africa needed a run-a-ball 30 in the last five overs, Dravid said Rohit Sharma took the right call to get Jasprit Bumrah back into the attack. Bumrah returned with impressive figures of 2-18 in his quota of four overs.

“It wasn’t about, ‘Oh, the match is gone,’ we were like we just need one more wicket, let’s get Bumrah back. That’s what Rohit did, right? Got Bumrah back, he bowled a tight over, and Hardik bowled a good ball to get Klaasen out. Things kind of changed, and we still needed a bit of luck towards the end. Suryakumar had to take an incredible catch, just two inches from the boundary. Amazing stuff. So many things against you, but you’re still able to pull it off,” he stated.

India was able to win the T20 World Cup title after 17 years and the Men in Blue also ended their major ICC title drought. The T20I showpiece was also Dravid’s last assignment with the national team.