The crowd did not wait for the final moments. The second Hardik Pandya perished in the 15th over, they began to file out, like a receding blue wave. No inner whisper told them to turn back; they simply did not have the heart to witness the end notes of another depressing night in this arena.
On November 19, 2023, they suffered the ODI final heartbreak; the emotions were similar, in that South Africa had mercilessly dismantled them, outwitting and outmuscling them. A 76-run defeat, pursuing 188, offers no place to run and hide, little sympathy or consideration.
What would rankle the most is that they surrendered in conditions resoundingly familiar to them, slow and sluggish surfaces where they once strangled opponents. But like the Test team that imploded on turners, the T20 counterparts crumble on anything, barring shirt-fronts. The cloak of invincibility lay ripped, they are not as condition or pressure-proof as they were perceived to be.
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A capitulation was lurking on the edges of the title defence. The (once) unstoppable winning machine had been largely spluttering. The perfect orchestra was strumming discordant notes. Solo performances were merely covering for the collective dysfunction. Only that it required a well-grooved concert of adversaries to fully expose their jarring tunes.
South Africa were resolute; they didn’t free-fall after the initial flurry of wickets and counterpunched. David Miller, Killer Miller to the locals during his Gujarat Titans days, threw the punches with a hitman’s gusto with his 35-ball 63.
The blows kept on coming. The first was the rudest. Fourth ball of the chase, Ishan Kishan tumbled to Aiden Markram, his leg-side mow countered by the delectable away drift. Ryan Rickelton’s catch at cover plunged the crowd into awkward silence.
The DJ continued to belt upbeat music, but the mood was one of foreboding. The nightmare of 2023 seemed recurring when they beheld Tilak Varma nicking Marco Jansen to the wicket-keeper. Abhishek Sharma sprinkled some cheer and lightened the mood with a twinkling ramp and a pleasing drive through cover point. But his revival was short-lived, flummoxed as he was by a full-length knuckle ball. South Africa’s typically organised fielders almost collided and shelled the catch. But Bosch clung on, even though Keshav Maharaj had slipped on his back. It was a night South Africa would loathe to drop even half a chance. They kept poise near the rope to complete a pair of catches.
The surface had not transformed into a monster gnashing its teeth. But Jansen produced more bounce than India’s seamers; Maharaj’s over-spun deliveries gripped off the surface. At 26 for 3, the burden of salvaging his flailing team fell on the captain’s shoulders. Hope flickered as long as Surya was in the middle. He kept losing partners, disrupting his flow and scattering his attention.
Lungi Ngidi’s off-cutter struck him on the groin, after he completely missed the slog. Once the surface began to hold up, stroke-making turned to hard grind.
Body blow
Soon came the moment the crowd slumped into disbelief. Surya tamely pulled Bosch’s heavy ball into the palms of Dewald Brevis at mid-wicket. From the crossroads, most routes ended in dead ends. It was unfamiliar because India, in their last three years of domination, had seldom been outplayed so completely.
It was a night from their worst nightmares. The night Kishan failed; Suryakumar stumbled, and most cruelly Varun Chakaravarthy suffered a bad day. His record against South Africa (22 wickets in 11 games) was too imposing to imagine that he would endure an off-day. But Miller, the tragic hero of the 2024 final, was primed for redemption. Varun beat him with the first ball, induced an edged four off the third, but Miller carved the fourth ball over mid-off for a momentum-swinging four. In the next over, he cuffed him for a six. Something in Varun, usually unflappable snapped.
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It was one of the innings Miller did not resort to extreme violence as he is capable of, but relied on placement. It was Brevis’s turn next to slap him for a four and a six in an over that leaked 17 runs.
It didn’t help that India leaked runs from the other end. Axar Patel’s thrift was missed. Washington Sundar’s first over cost 11 runs; Pandya’s second, soon after the 17-run Varun over, leaked 11. Fifteen runs greeted Shivam Dube’s first over. India’s best-laid middle-over plans lay in tatters. It was too early to summon Bumrah for a one-over spell. Or was it? The match was quickly unravelling for India. It required a sprinkling of magic dust. Had Brevis not holed out in the deep off Dube, ending a stand of 97 from 51 balls, maybe Yadav would have called his pace spearhead.
But Varun’s night was dark. He lost his poise. The metronomic mastery of length deserted him. The control of pace, the awareness when to bowl faster and when to slow down, forsook. He merely darted the ball in, was unusually directionless, bowling four wides in his third over. It was as though he feared being hit.
Whether it is a rap on the knuckles or a knockout punch, the defeat poses India to confront glaring vulnerabilities that need instant redressal. Had it been a bilateral series, it could have been brushed aside. But in a frenetic tournament like this, a stumble pushes a team to the edge. And India are on the precipice, pressure mounting and baring its teeth.
