Photo documentary
It’s all over but the feelings persist
Alagappan Muthu July 3, 2024
Road to victory: Rohit Sharma jubilant after India win first ICC title since 2013
© CREIMAS
ROhit Sharma felt his knees give way. Ironically, that was when the weight on his shoulders had finally lifted. Early in his career, he faced the strange challenge of being talented. Being really, really good at this really, really cool thing apparently meant he had to succeed every time.
In the latter part of his career, he faced an equally strange challenge: becoming a winner. His teams crushed others and reached the final, but then they made mistakes. He was the imperfect child of destiny and he had to fight against this feeling all his life. And then, suddenly, one Saturday morning, he didn’t have to anymore. Because he was now not only good, but good enough. This realization shook him.
He dropped to the floor and started slapping him stupidly.
You have to fall to get up: Seven months ago, India lost the ODI World Cup final at home
Robert Cianflone / © Getty Images
He’s laughing.
Let me rest on my laurels now: Rohit enjoys lying back surrounded by his team
Robert Cianflone / © Getty Images
He is crying.
Rohit expresses emotions after India’s first T20 World Cup win since 2007
Alex Davidson / © ICC/Getty Images
He even went so far as to kiss people.
South Africa’s entire World Cup history happened in about 30 seconds.
Promise: They came into the tournament with perhaps the best middle order they have ever assembled. In the final, with 16 players up for grabs, one of them faced a juicy draw.
Excellence: They distilled it into moments and applied it across campaigns. When David Miller swung his bat and sent the ball flying, South Africa were on their way to becoming the first unbeaten T20I world champions.
Heartbreak, and worse, the what-ifs. What if the rain hadn’t come in 1992? What if Lance Klusener and Allan Donald had hit that single in 1999? What if AB de Villiers had smashed the stumps with the ball instead of without in 2015? What if Suryakumar Yadav’s shoes had been a size bigger in 2024? The human mind is not designed to deal with those kinds of what-ifs. It’s obsessive.
Ghosts of 2024: At the start of the last over, South Africa needed 16 runs to win, but David Miller’s dismissal on the first ball swung the match in India’s favour
Philip Brown / © Getty Images
South Africa is strong. It will heal.
It hurts: South Africa went undefeated throughout the World Cup but couldn’t go all the way
Philip Brown / © Getty Images
They will come back.
One last hurdle: Aidan Markram passes the World Cup trophy
© Getty Images
And who knows, maybe the next generation will remember them as serial winners.
We made history (sort of): it was South Africa’s first senior men’s World Cup final
Robert Cianflone / © Getty Images
“When you are batting, the happiness is there of course. Everybody likes it inside. But when you play and catch something like that, or hit a good run out or stop a run, the happiness spreads to nine to ten people.” That was Suryakumar Yadav ten days before the final. Before he found himself running at full speed to his left. Before he knew exactly when to slow down and pull himself together. Before he stood on tiptoes and reached behind him – in a space he was not allowed to – and took a catch that thrilled more than nine people.
Surya safe: SKY turn the tables thanks to Miller’s catch
Philip Brown / © Getty Images
At 17, he would have watched India win the World Cup at the Wankhede. At 21, he was bought by the IPL franchise that called the stadium home. A few months later, he became a champion for the first time. Then at 23, 25 and 27. At 28, he left in search of a new challenge. At 30, he returned. Hardik Pandya would have felt nothing but pride as he donned the Mumbai Indians jersey again. This time as captain. He had grown up. He had learnt to be responsible. And he had come home a better man. Except that home was not what he remembered. They hated him now. They hated his ambition. They described him as a usurper. “I wanted to cry,” Hardik said, “but I didn’t. The people who were happy with my misery, I didn’t want to give them that satisfaction.” And I never will. Now look at destiny.”
Look at me now haters, I’m a world champion
Gareth Copley / © Getty Images
It was already past midnight in India by the time Virat Kohli’s kids were crowned the winners. But it seems Virat Kohli’s kids were given permission to stay up past their bedtime.
Joker King: Kohli spends time with family via video call
Alex Davidson / © ICC/Getty Images
And then there are the visuals that don’t need words to tell the story.
Including that of a 51-year-old man who had to wait until his last day of work – which took up his entire adult life – to get what he deserved.
Silver hair but trophy: Dravid captained India in the Caribbean as they crashed out of the 2007 World Cup in the first round
Gareth Copley / © Getty Images
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
