India in the T20 CWC – Sharma & Kohli hungry for success after close calls

India started off super slow in this tournament: their first match against Scotland was rained off, they tied their second against Pakistan and lost to New Zealand in their third match. They found form to beat England by 18 runs and the hosts South Africa by 37 runs to make the semi-final, where they beat a strong Australian side by 15 runs.

The first T20 World Cup final was a real thriller in Joburg. India scored 157/5 off their 20 overs, led by an innings of 75 off 54 balls by Gautam Gambhir. A promising 20-year-old batter called Rohit Sharma smashed 30* off 16 balls to give the innings a late boost. 

Pakistan’s chase ended in the final over when they were bowled out six runs short of their target but with three balls in hand. Irfan Pathan starred with the ball, taking 3/16 (econ 4.00).

India stormed through the Group phase, beating Pakistan and the West Indies by seven wickets apiece, before hammering Australia by 73 runs. They then beat South Africa by six wickets in the semi-final, getting the winning runs off the first ball of the final over.

Rohit Sharma got the innings off to a relatively slow start at the top with 29 off 26 balls, but Virat Kohli cranked up the innings, scoring 77 off 58 balls, hitting four sixes. India could only manage 130/4 off their 20 overs in the face of some superb bowling from the Sri Lankans, who raced to the win for the loss of four wickets off 17.5 overs. 

In 2024, India succeeded in making it to the semi-final stage for the fourth time in the last five tournaments. They were unbeaten through to the final, which is being played on 29 June 2024, and dominated in most of their matches. 

India won seven of their eight matches up to the final, with their match against Canada being rained off. They won all their matches comfortably, aside from a six-run win over Pakistan, with the highlights being a 24-run win over Australia and a 68-run win over England.

In the final, India posted 176/7 off their 20 overs, Virat Kohli scoring 76 off 59 balls, supported by Axar Patel, who hit four sixes in his innings of 47 off 31 balls. The Proteas made a good start but fell seven runs short in the face of an astounding spell of bowling from Jasprit Bumrah, who took 2/18 (econ 4.50) and stopped the Proteas in their tracks when they seemed on course for the win.

1292 – Virat Kohli has scored the most runs 

58.72 – Kohli has the highest batting average 

15 – Kohli has scored 15 half-centuries

319 – Kohli holds the record for the most runs in a tournament (2014)

17 – Arshdeep Singh shares the record for the most wickets in a tournament (2024)

5.44 – Jasprit Bumrah has the best economy rate

32 – MS Dhoni has the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper

2 – Kohli has twice won the Player of the Tournament award (2014, 2016)

2 – Kohli has twice scored the most runs in the tournament (319 in 2014; and 296 in 2022)