India became the T20 World Cup champions for the second time after winning the inaugural tournament in 2007. The Men in Blue edged South Africa in a nail-biting final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados to clinch the T20 World Cup 2024 trophy.
This marked Rohit Sharma’s first ICC trophy win as the Indian captain. Notably, he was the only player to feature in both of India’s T20 World Cup-winning squads, 17 years apart.
Both tournaments hold a special place in Indian cricket fans’ hearts, but was one more iconic than the other? Here’s a look back at both campaigns.
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2007 T20 World Cup: MS Dhoni’s Captaincy Debut and India’s Rise
It was rare to see the BCCI name a new captain for a World Cup. The selectors picked MS Dhoni to lead Team India at the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, just months after their disastrous ODI World Cup campaign.
Key Players in T20 World Cup 2007 Victory
Senior players like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly were not part of the squad, whereas Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were selected. A young Indian team featuring the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, and Yusuf Pathan among others, reached South Africa for the grand event.
India’s first group-stage match against Scotland was abandoned due to rain. Next up, India played a thrilling tie against Pakistan and beat them via a bowl-out to qualify for the Super 8s.
When India lost to New Zealand in the first match of the Super Eights, not many fans expected them to qualify for the semifinals. However, MS Dhoni and Co. first beat England and then hosts South Africa to storm into the semis. They then beat the seemingly invincible Australian side in the semifinal to set up a final against arch-rivals Pakistan.
The final went down to the wire, where Joginder Sharma kept his nerves to help India win the inaugural T20 World Cup. It is pertinent to note that India had crashed out of the group stage in the ODI World Cup played just before the T20 World Cup in 2007.
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Hence, the Men in Blue winning the T20I mega event with a rather inexperienced squad was a welcome surprise to many.
2024 T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s Grand Farewell to T20I
Just like the 2007 T20 World Cup, India entered the 2024 T20 World Cup after a heartbreak in the ODI World Cup just a few months ago. While India crashed out in the group stage of the 2007 ODI World Cup, they won 10 consecutive matches in the 2023 ODI World Cup before losing to Australia in the final.
Many fans wanted the selectors to send a young squad like in 2007 for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA. However, the team management showed faith in senior players.
Key Players in 2024 T20 World Cup 2024 Victory
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli proved themselves yet again with magnificent batting performances. The bowling attack, led by Jasprit Bumrah, helped India dominate in the group stage against Ireland, Pakistan, and the USA. They also led the team in Super-Eight games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh, while Rohit’s blitzkrieg blew away Australia in their last Super-Eight game.
All-rounder Axar Patel and spinner Kuldeep Yadav then destroyed England in the semifinal, whereas Kohli stood up and delivered the goods in the final against an unbeaten South African side, scoring 76 runs. Still, South Africa brought the equation down to 27 runs off 28 balls with six wickets in hand.
It looked like India would suffer another defeat in an ICC tournament’s final. However, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya brought their A-game to the table when it mattered the most. Suryakumar Yadav also pulled off a catch for the ages at the long-off boundary in the final over to send David Miller back and win the game for India.
The Men in Blue made a comeback for the ages to win the final by seven runs. This victory ended India’s 17-year-long T20 World Cup drought.
Both the 2007 and 2024 T20 World Cup wins were iconic. It would be wrong to say one was more special than the other because, in both tournaments, India showed character and made a splendid comeback after a horrible ending to their previous ODI World Cup campaigns. Hence, both title wins are equally iconic for Indian fans
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