“Cushion Had Moved But…”: South Africa Great Shaun Pollock On Suryakumar Yadav’s Catch In Final

Arguably the title-defining moment in the T20 World Cup 2024 final, Suryakumar Yadav‘s catch remains a big talking point among fans. The India star’s spectacular effort on the boundary rope to deny South Africa batter David Miller a six and send him packing turned out to be a crucial factor in deciding the result of the final. While Surya’s catch was called legal by the third umpire, there remain arguments on social media over the rope cushion being moved behind the designated boundary line. There are those too who feel Surya’s catch did touch the cushion but the third umpire looked the other way. Now, South Africa legend Shaun Pollock has given his analysis of the situation.

“The catch was fine. The cushion had moved, but that’s in the course of the game. It had nothing to do with Surya. He didn’t stand on the cushion. Brilliant bit of skill,” Pollock said in a video posted by Times of Karachi.

At one stage in final, South Africa needed 30 runs to win the match from 30 balls. But, the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh produced a stunning display of death bowling to turn things in favour of their side.

Suryakumar, speaking after the match, admitted that it looked like the final was going South Africa’s way at one point but is gland to have played his role in turning things around.

“Now it’s easy to say. But at that time, it felt like a trophy was sailing over the boundary to the other side. But yeah, in that moment, you don’t think the ball will cross the boundary line and go for six. Whatever was in my control, I tried it. And wind was also a good factor at that moment and helped me a little bit. And we have done a lot of practice sessions with our fielding coach and taken a lot of catches like this. So when it comes to a game like this, our presence of mind is very important,” said Suryakumar.