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Former captain of the Indian Cricket Team Rohit Sharma defended his decision of giving the ball to Axar Patel in the 15th over of the T20 World Cup Final 2024. In the match played on 29th June 2024 at Barbados, India scored 176/7 giving a target of 177 for South Africa to chase. In the 15th over, South African power hitter Heinrich Klaasen slammed 24 runs which created a pressure situation for the Indian team in the final.
While talking to Jio Cinema, Rohit reflected that I hoped for a straighter delivery from that end, that’s why I chose Axar to bowl from that end. He added, “I still think it was the right call, because what happened with Axar could have happened to any other bowler too.” Further elaborating on his plan in the final, the ex skipper said that he wanted his fast bowlers to attack from the other end. Regarding his plan for his spinners, Rohit said, “ The end from where Axar was bowling was against the wind and it was a longer end.”
Rohit further added that it was his plan for Klaasen- to let Axar to bowl from there, so that the batsman could mistime the shot. While talking about his decision to employ Axar from that further added, “Someone has to bowl from the challenging side and I thought that could be Axar as he was in great form. I thought he could be my wicket taker against a right hand batsman as he also dismissed Tristan Stubbs in his previous over.”
15th over of T20 World Cup Final 2024
While chasing the score, South Africa was 123/4 when Axar Patel came to bowl the 15th over. It was that situation where the match could have gone towards Proteas as well, and Klaasen intended that. He attacked from the very first ball itself by hitting a solid powerful boundary over bowler’s head after stepping into the crease. Then after two extras and a dot ball, Klaasen wreaked havoc on Axar Patel. On the third ball, after anticipating the wide line he stepped to the off side and hit a 99 metre long six as the ball went to the roof. In the next delivery too, Klaasen was standing deep in the crease and he hit a maximum over the long-on boundary. In the penultimate delivery of the over, Klassen planted his front foot solidly and hit a well timed four through wide long-off. This over ended by Klaasen taking two runs in the last delivery. At the end of this over, Proteas were 147/4. It was merely a run a ball affair for them.
While talking about that over Rohit said, “Had he (Klaasen) mistimed the shot we would have been very off the decision to let Axar bowl.” He reflected further on his decision to let Axar bowl that over, Rohit said, “As a captain your decision can’t be right everytime. He added that the beauty of this game lies in its unpredictability.
Rohit Sharma led the Indian Cricket Team to win that final and winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. His first ICC title as a captain of the Indian Cricket Team, after nearly missing an ICC title in the final of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at Ahmedabad against Australia.
