Former India cricketer and renowned commentator Ravi Shastri picked the blockbuster clash between fierce rivals Pakistan and India as one of his favourite moments from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Inaugural champions India came from behind in the nail-biting final of this year’s mega event against South Africa to end their 11-year-long ICC title drought.
The former champions remained unbeaten in the entirety of the tournament but were tested massively on two occasions — against arch-rivals Pakistan in the group stage and in the final against South Africa.
Pakistan, while chasing 120, were 80/3 with set batter Mohammad Rizwan at the crease. But Jasprit Bumrah, the eventual Player of the Tournament, cleaned up the wicketkeeper batter to force an astounding comeback of the Men in Blue.
Meanwhile, Ravi Shastri, in the latest episode of the ICC Review podcast, termed Rizwan’s dismissal as his favourite moment being an Indian supporter as it eventually set their tone going forward in the T20 World Cup 2024.
“I think India-Pakistan because India were made to fight there and realise what the right combination should be going forward in the tournament. That and then of course the final, those final five overs [from the T20 World Cup final],” Shastri said.
“I’d say one was Jasprit [Bumrah] getting Mohammad Rizwan. Extremely crucial, because that could have tilted the balance of the game. And it happened on the first ball of a new spell,” he added.
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Ravi Shastri then picked Jasprit Bumrah’s death over bowling in the final against South Africa as his other favourite moment.
“Brought back into the attack and then getting it to reverse and sneak through bat and pad [of Marco Jansen], I thought that was a very, very important wicket at that time,” Shastri recalled.
“Hardik [Pandya] had done the main damage by taking Klaasen [in the previous over] but I thought back-to-back, that over and that wicket was extremely important.”
“He just showed the world what it takes and you know, it’s not often in your career when you have a ball in your hand and you say, do this and the ball does that,” Shastri said of Bumrah.
Lauding Bumrah, Ravi Shastri went on to compare the lanky pacer with all-time greats like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
“Very few have done it, I thought Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis] had it in their prime when they played white-ball cricket. Shane Warne had it where he could literally tell the ball, go there, pitch there, hit leg stump,” Shastri said.
“People who are on top of the game have that ability. I think Bumrah had that in this World Cup.”
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