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The Indian team has not won an ICC World Cup since 2011. South Africa’s record is even worse, having yet to play in a World Cup final. The two teams, historically reluctant to win big games and filled with players harboring bitter memories that seem near but far, meet on Saturday in Barbados. The unimaginative and callous are calling the 2024 ICC T20 World Final a choker’s derby, where redemption is the reward.
Fans on two continents, traumatized by past World Cup heartbreaks, will be excited and charging like buffaloes. They have waited a long time to bring home the cup. But their hopes are conditional. Success or failure at the famous Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, will have far-reaching consequences. A win for either team in the final would erase a derogatory label and refresh their image. A loss, on the other hand, would put the team’s weakness under even more scrutiny, highlight old flaws and deepen fan disillusionment.
At midnight this weekend, the world will pass a harsh verdict. One team will be hailed as a champion while the other will be dismissed as a perennial underdog. Such vilification is unfair and cynical.
Neither India nor South Africa have buckled under the pressure so far in the tournament. Both teams are undefeated and have won close, if dramatic, matches. In their respective semi-finals, both teams seem to have found a way to defeat the demons of the past.
“We were very calm as a team,” India captain Rohit Sharma said after his team’s semi-final win over England by 68 runs. “We understand the situation but the key for us is to stay calm.”
South African captain Aiden Markram was also proud of his team’s ability to keep a cool head in a tense match. “It’s nice to get the win, we’ve had a lot of close matches,” Markram said after South Africa beat Afghanistan in the bubble by 56 runs to win the quarter-finals.
This is something that past South African teams with legendary names have failed to achieve. The history of cricket in the Rainbow Nation has been an odyssey that has stayed true to the classic tale of tragedy. The farcical target of 22 runs from one ball due to primitive rain rules in the first World Cup after returning from quarantine in 1992, the huge miscalculation of Duckworth and Lewis’ target in 2003 and the weather-induced loss to New Zealand in the final over in 2015 are chapters of despair and missed opportunities. But none are as soul-crushing as the error by Lance Klusener and Allan Donald on the last ball of the 1999 semi-final against Australia. It remains the frame that best captures the regrettable mistakes of world cricket’s cursed team.
Unlike many other countries, South Africa as a nation has acknowledged its seemingly incurable disease of freezing up at the end of matches. The country has published a well-received book by author Luke Alfred, entitled The Art of Losing – Why the Proteas Failed at the Cricket World Cup, which tackles the issue head-on. The book talks about the “macho culture” that pervades South African sport and its “strong and silent” players.
Klusener, aka Zulu, embodied the image of the South African tough guy. Alfred mentions Zulu’s catchphrase: “You have to stay on the lily,” the all-rounder used to say. The author explains, “It means you have to behave like a frog on a lily, don’t let anything bother you.” But the “lonely frog on a lily pad” approach fosters isolation and poor communication among team members. Experts still say that if Klusener, the ultimate finisher in the white-ball game, had spoken to his batting partner Donald in the final over on that fateful day, the history of South African cricket would have been different.
This T20 World Cup, a new South Africa has been born under Markram. They talk the talk and they know how to walk the tightrope. Three of South Africa’s matches in this tournament have gone to the final over – against Bangladesh, Nepal and the Netherlands – but in Barbados they are battling to survive and live to tell the tale. They took the time to contemplate the possibilities in the huddle and came off the field with smiles on their faces. South Africa have adapted quickly to every innovation the sport has seen, started well in the World Cup and are now ready to walk the final mile.
India, on the other hand, are traditionally a boisterous team with no shortage of words. With MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and now Rohit Sharma, on-field arguments have become part of the team culture. In this T20 World Cup, they have finally adopted a modern T20 approach that values the collective effort of the players over individualism. India’s semi-final heist against England was a perfect storm. No one played the anchor role, no one wasted the ball and every batsman was in tune with the winning mantra of T20 cricket: “strike and scoop”. Rohit was the top run-scorer with 57 off 39 balls. He was the only half-century. Of the nine batsmen who took a strike, six hit boundaries. Three had a strike rate of over 150 and seven crossed 100. South Africa are also not in favour of giving one batsman a long role in a format that requires 11 players to share the 20 overs.
Both the teams are strong enough to go all the way. India have an in-form opener in Rohit, while South Africa have Quinton de Kock. Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav will face Heinrich Klaassen and David Miller. Hardik Pandya vs Marco Janssen is a showdown between two all-rounders with great touch. The clash of pace will be a delight to watch. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje against Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh is a dream tag match-up. Both teams also have talented spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Keshav Maharaj.
The Oval’s central square features two pitches, one for spinners and one for seamers. India and South Africa are well-positioned to rise to any challenge and exploit any situation. The stakes are high: India can achieve an objective that has been lacking for some time, and South Africa can right a historic wrong. There will be winners and losers, champions and runners-up, but no last place.
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