The Bumper World Cup Final Edition
The headlines, emotions, player profiles, legacy changes & fan profiles from India’s big win.
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The Bumper World Cup Final Edition
The headlines, emotions, player profiles, legacy changes, fan profiles (& opinions on the losers) from IND’s big win.
THE HEADLINES: India beat South Africa by 7 runs to win the World Cup. The Indian players’ reactions. Former players’ reactions. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma & Ravindra Jadeja are retiring from T20Is (plus some stats on Rohit’s T20I career). The BCCI have awarded the team an additional INR 125 crore (~$16M) for the victory.
THE EMOTIONS: ESPNcricinfo’s Sidharth Monga describes the messy, chaotic joy of watching India finally lift a World Cup after 13 years. The Guardian’s Frédéric Noy has a phenomenal photo-essay on the shared love of cricket amongst Indians across political, religious, economic & cultural divides.
THE PLAYERS: ESPNcricinfo’s Sidharth Monga writes about Hardik Pandya’s rise from the depths of cricketing hell. ESPNcricinfo’s Matt Roller writes about India’s underrated triple threat, Axar Patel. Indian Express’ Pratyush Raj writes about the Kent stint that clarified Arshdeep Singh’s bowling style.
THE LEGACIES: Cricket.com’s Aakash Sivasubramaniam believes the win is a reward for Kohli’s greatness in T20Is, much like Lionel Messi’s World Cup win in 2022 & Michael Jordan’s first NBA title. Indian Express’ Sandip G crowns Jasprit Bumrah India’s greatest ever match winner. Indian Express’ Venkata Krishna B writes about Rahul Dravid’s enduring legacy as the first Indian coach to win a World Cup. Indian Express’ Sriram Veera recalls the three greatest catches in India’s history; Kapil Dev in 1983, Sreesanth in 2007 & Suryakumar Yadav in 2024.
THE FANS: The Print’s Navneet Oberoi profiles the Bharat Army, an English-founded group of Indian supporters that travels the world to support India through thick and thin.
THE LOSERS: ESPNcricinfo’s Firdose Moonda describes what comes next for an excellent South Africa side who fell just short at the final hurdle; exhaustion, sadness, and a reminder that they are the most successful Proteas team ever.
South Africa stonewall their second innings
SA-W fight back despite being forced to follow on, decoding Bazball 2.0, & Flintoff’s kid isn’t half bad.
India Women forced a follow on, and South Africa trail by 105 runs with 8 wickets in hand going into the last day of their Test.
Cricbuzz’s Purnima Malhotra recalls Sneh Rana’s ruthless 8-77 that dismantled the Proteas’ first innings, and ESPNcricinfo’s Sruthi Ravindranath writes about Sune Luus stonewall batting that brought South Africa back into the game in their second innings.
India Women’s A team will play a multi-format series (including a four-day Test) against their Australia counterparts in August.
The Guardian’s Ali Martin decodes Bazball 2.0 as a heavily changed English side was named for the West Indies series. Meanwhile, ESPNcricinfo’s Andrew Miller writes about the 16-year old Rocky Flintoff, the legendary all-rounder’s son who is making a name of his own with some stellar displays in the U-19 team.
Cricbuzz’s Smit Patel is previewing the new MLC season, kicking off with the reigning champion (and ridiculously named) MI New York, and the superstar-powered Washington Freedom.
From U-19 to the seniors
How West Indies is building a modern cricketing pipeline, and the best T20 players ever.
Carribean Cricket Podcast’s Machel St Patrick Hewitt had a fascinating conversation with the head coach at Cricket West Indies’ Academy about how to develop elite players in today’s cricketing environment.
Red Inker’s Jarrod Kimber, Behram Qazi & Estelle Vasudevan conduct a snake-style draft of the best T20 players ever. No guesses for who goes first, especially after Saturday! [Apple Podcasts]
Editor’s Note
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