The last week was nothing short of heaven for cricket fans with the Semi-Finals and the Final of the 9th edition of T20 World Cup 2024. From epic dramas and last ball thrillers, few exhilarating games of cricket could be highlighted in the last week’s events. Let’s uncover these in more depth.
T20 World Cup Semi Finals
The top 4 finalists featured Afghanistan for the first time ever. The Afghan team clinically defeated Australia and Bangladesh to secure a spot in the Semis. This confirmed the participants of Semi-Finals being India, England, South Africa and Afghanistan.
Both of the Semi Finals were held on 27 June and were a true treat for the cricket fans. In the 1st Semi-Final, South Africa brutally defeated Afghanistan by 9 wickets. The Afghan team’s batting line-up collapsed badly as the whole team was only able to put together 56 runs in 12 overs. South Africa easily achieved this target in just 9 overs and booked their spot for the finals of a T20 World Cup for the very 1st time.
The second Semi-Final featured two mighty nations, namely England and India. India put together a solid target of 171 runs for the British team to chase. However, in an unexpected turn of events, the English team suffered from a middle-order collapse and the whole team was bowled out at 103 runs.
T20 World Cup Finals
The two undefeated teams of this 9th edition of the T20 World Cup competed for the champions title in the finals. A thriller encounter took place at Kensington Oval Stadium, Barbados. India batted first and put together 176 runs on the scoreboard. The Proteas batsmen gave their full efforts and were able to catch up to the run rate difference.
Heinrich Klaasen’s fiery 52 off 27 balls kept the African fans’ dream of winning an ICC trophy alive till the last ball. However, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya’s admirable spells and crucial dismissals eventually led India’s to victory. Indian fans were in absolute bliss as their nation won the ICC title after 13 long years. Virat Kohli was crowned as the Man of the Match. However, a bittersweet moment for the cricket fans followed as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from the T20 internationals, soon after the win.
