Tears of ecstacy and dejection: T20 World Cup final brings out all

PTI, Jun 30, 2024, 8:25 AM IST

Image credit: ESPN

Bridgetown: It did not matter if you were a giant of the game. You were allowed to have tears in your eyes, you were allowed to be taken over by a flood of emotions.

There were tears of ecstacy, and there were tears of dejection: That’s what a victory and a defeat in a match that matters the most, brings out.

There were tears and hugs all around. Hugs for celebrations and for commiserations too at the of the T20 World Cup.

Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Quinton de Kock, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Dravid, David Miller — all had tears in their eyes but each one of them had a different story attached to the emotion.

Rohit lay on the Kensigton Oval ground, his chest facing the ground perhaps thanking for the prayers answered and hard work of years yielding the result so desperately sought.

He had lost two World Cup finals and was close to losing another high-pressure game but this time he crossed the line along with a bunch players he believes in.

Finally the Indian skipper had his moment.

And finally, the India coach had his moment under the sun. He could not win a World Cup as a player but on the last day of his assignment as India coach, Dravid had a World Cup trophy to lay his hands on. It meant a world to him.

Someone who has been a master to hide his emotions all these years, allowed himself to be swept by the emotions — emotions of victory and relief. He was pumping his first in the air and shouting ‘Come on!’. It was a rare sight to watch.

Pandya has gone through a lot in his personal and professional life in the last few months. Being booed by the fans for replacing the much-loved Rohit Sharma as Mumbai Indians skipper, Pandya had copped a lot of unfair flak and ire of the fans.

Then there were unconfirmed reports of his marriage falling apart. He had underwent a lot. When he was asked to defend 16 runs in the last over, he could have walked out either as a hero or a villain.

It was a time to win back his fans and he did that with aplomb. It was just natural that he could not stop his eyes from pouring out those sentiments.

Rohit placed a hard kiss on the cheek of Pandya right in the middle of his interview with official broadcaster. These were rare and incredible scenes.

In complete contrast, Miller hung his head while resting his arms on the billboards on the fence.

He could have steered his side to the greatest victory in South African cricket history but his shot off Pandya on the first ball of the last over, soaring high, was halted by a SKY special on the boundary ropes.

Who knows if Miller had found boundary on that ball, the Proteas would have perhaps shed the unwanted tag of ‘chokers’.

De Kock has been a soldier for South African cricket for long, he too knew that it was a huge opportunity to do what even the biggest stars from his country could not do.

Understandably, his tears had a different smell.