Team India has not won a trophy since the 2011 ICC World Cup. South Africa’s record, on the other hand, is even worse. They have never played in a World Cup final. Teams historically averse to winning big games are filled with players who carry memories of painful near misses. Likewise, the unimaginative and insensitive are calling the 2024 ICC T20 World Final an unfortunate clash of teams (soaker’s derby) for the two teams that will meet in Barbados today on Saturday.
Fans on two continents are reeling from the heartbreak of previous World Cups. Butterflies await within them. They have been waiting for the trophy to come to India for a long time. But this time they are more confident. Wins and losses can have superficial consequences at the storied Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. A win in the finals would change that perception, erasing the stigmatized tags for either team. A loss, meanwhile, would further punish the team for being soft, underscoring old flaws and disappointing fans.
At midnight this weekend, the world will have passed its brutal judgment. A team is hailed as a champion outfit. The other will be dismissed as an unlucky team (the Socceroos). This name calling is unfair and ironic.
So far neither India nor South Africa have cracked under pressure in the tournament. They even dramatically went undefeated, finishing tight games well. In their respective semifinals, both teams seem to have found ways to erase past defeats.
“We were very calm as a team,” Indian captain Rohit Sharma said after the 68-run win over England in the semi-finals. “We understand the occasion of the final, but for us, it’s important to be calm and composed.” said.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram is proud of his team for keeping their nerves in check in tense games. “It’s confusing because it got over the line. A lot of our games have been really close,” he said.
Something that past South African teams with legendary names failed to do. The rainbow nation’s cricketing history has been an odyssey true to the classic tragic tale. The archaic rain rule that forced them to a ridiculous 22-ball target in their first World Cup since their return from isolation in 1992, the epic miscalculation of the Duckworth & Lewis target in 2003 and a weather-reduced last-over defeat to New Zealand. Episodes of frustration and missed opportunities in 2015. Nothing was as soul-crushing as the Lance Klusener-Alan Donald combination on the final ball against Australia in the 1999 semi-final. It’s a frame that best captures the near misses of world cricket’s cursed team.
Unlike many others, South Africa as a nation agrees to freeze its incurable disease at the end of time. The country has produced a well-received book by author Luke Alfred, who catches the issue in the eye, titled, ‘Art is Losing – Why the Proteas are Choking at the Cricket World Cup’. It speaks of the “macho culture” prevailing in South African sports and its “strong and quiet” players.
Klusener, or Zulu, epitomizes South Africa’s tough guy image. Alfred mentions Zulu’s pet phrase. “You must be in your lily,” the all-rounder often said. The writer explains: “By that he means that you should behave like a frog upon a lily; You can’t let anything disturb you.” But the “lone frog on a lily pad” approach encourages isolation and lack of communication among team members. South Africa’s cricket history would have been different if Klusener, the final man of the white-ball game, had spoken to his batting partner Donald on that fateful day, in the final overs. Experts still say that.
This T20 World Cup, with Markram at the helm, a new South Africa emerged. They talk that this team knows how to walk a tightrope. Three of their matches in the series have gone to the last over – Bangladesh, Nepal, Netherlands – but they are alive and ready to tell their life story in Barbados. They have taken their time, come together and think about the possibilities, and emerge from the field with sporting smiles. South Africa is quick to adapt to every innovation the game has seen, started well in the World Cup and is now ready to walk the last mile.
India, on the other hand, are traditionally a loud team, never short of words. Be it MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and now Rohit Sharma, discussions on the field are part of the team culture. This T20 World Cup, they have finally adopted the modern T20 approach, which values players’ collective effort over individuality. India’s semi-final campaign against England was a perfect storm – nobody played anchor, nobody wasted balls, every batsman lived up to T20 cricket’s “strike and scoot” winning mantra. Rohit scored a maximum of 57 runs off 39 balls. He was the only one to score a half-century. Six of the nine batsmen on strike hit fours; Three had strike rates above 150 and seven had strike rates above 100. South Africa also do not believe in giving long roles to a batsman in a format where 11 players share 20 overs.
Both teams are capable of going the distance. If Rohit is India’s opener, South Africa has Quinton de Kock. Facing Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav are Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller. Hardik Pandya vs Marco Johnson will be a clash between all-rounders. The speed bump is mouth-watering. Kagiso Rabada and Unrich Nordje vs Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh is a dream tag-team match-up. Both the teams have quality spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Keshav Maharaj.
The oval center square has two pitches – one for spinners and the other for seamers. India and South Africa are armed to face any challenge and take advantage of all conditions. There is a lot of risk. India can find and tick one off the hunt for some time and South Africa can right a historic wrong. The team can be anything from a winner and a loser, a champion and a runner-up. But no choker.
