The entire India might take a bit longer to get over from the cricket team’s recent triumph in T20 World Cup 2024. India edged past South Africa by 7 runs in the final match of T20 World Cup 2024 at the Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 29 to clinch an ICC title after 11 years. It was India’s second T20 World Cup title overall, and first after 17 years. After coming to India, the World Cup-winning team got a rousing reception. Among the many memorable moments was the picture of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli — the two stalwarts of Indian cricket — holding the trophy together during a victory parade in an open bus in Mumbai.

A video recently shared by IPL franchise Mumbai Indians that was recorded by Suryakumar Yadav, a member of the World Cup-winning side, shows how Virat convinced his teammate Rohit for the iconic picture.

In the clip, Virat could be seen convincing Rohit to walk with him and pose with the trophy in front of the fans.

Watch it here:

A close-up view of that image! #MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians | @ImRo45 | @imVkohli | @surya_14kumar pic.twitter.com/MPK5jaFsjE

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) July 10, 2024

After India’s T20 World Cup triumph in Barbados, Virat Kohli called time on his T20I career, so did Rohit Sharma. A day later, Ravindra Jadeja too announced his decision to quit the format at the highest level.

Former England batter and skipper Michael Vaughan said that the ICC T20 World Cup triumph was a perfect way for veterans Kohli, skipper Rohit and all-rounder Jadeja to bow out of the T20I format and there is plenty of talent to replace them.

Vaughan He said that though the tournament was the perfect send-off for the aforementioned trio, they could have won more white ball trophies among themselves.

(With ANI Inputs)

India cricket star Suryakumar Yadav cackled up fans on social media as he revealed that the “most important catch” of his life was not the one he took to dismiss David Miller in the 2024 T20 World Cup final. Instead, it was marrying his wife Devisha Shetty. The couple shared pictures together of cutting a giant cake as they celebrated the eighth anniversary of their wedding. Suryakumar Yadav – fondly known as SKY – took to social media to make a pun about the situation.

“Yesterday marked 8 days since THAT catch but my most important catch was actually 8 years ago!” captioned SKY on Instagram.

“8 years ago, infinite years to go,” he also added.

The post gained more than 700,000 likes in just six hours of being posted on Instagram, with many fans lapping up the heartwarming caption and wishing the couple.

SKY (33) married Devisha (30) on July 7, 2016. They had first met in 2010.

Suryakumar Yadav’s role in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 win

SKY was the world’s no. 1 batter for nearly two years until recently, and was a key cog as India lifted the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA. After notching up two half-centuries earlier in the tournament, SKY produced the catch of a lifetime in the final.

With South Africa needing 16 off the final over, Suryakumar Yadav took an astonishing catch at long-off to dismiss the dangerous David Miller. SKY first had to keep the ball in play, and then came back from outside the boundary rope to claim a stunning catch.

SKY’s catch and a magnificent death bowling effort by Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya led to India winning the final by seven runs, thereby clinching a second T20 World Cup title.

SKY has presently been rested for India’s five-match T20I series in Zimbabwe.

The Maharashtra government last week felicitated four Indian cricketers who were part of the T20 World Cup winning team. India captain Rohit Sharma, star batters Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal were all honoured by the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government. However, Indian shuttler Chirag Shetty has lashed out at the government for not treating all sports equally, and highlighted how he was not honoured for being part of the Thomas Cup-winning Indian team in 2022. 

Chirag, who was crowned World no. 1 in the BWF men’s doubles ranking last year along with his partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, insisted that while he has nothing against the cricketers, the government should treat all sports equally.

“Thomas Cup is equivalent to winning the World Cup. I was part of the Indian badminton team which won its maiden title, shocking champions Indonesia in the final. I was the only Maharashtra player in the Indian team. When the govt can honour World Cup-winning cricket stars, they should have also recognised my efforts. Government should treat any other sport equally,” Chirag was quoted as saying by Times of India.

Chirag also highlighted how India had never made it to the semi-finals of Thomas Cup before 2022.

“I have nothing against cricket. We all badminton players watched the T20 World Cup final live on TV and celebrated enthusiastically. We are happy and proud about their sensational win against South Africa in the final. Similarly, we had also achieved something remarkable a couple of years ago, but the state government did not even felicitate me, leave apart from giving any cash rewards. Before 2022, the Indian badminton team had never even reached the semifinals but we created history by winning the title,” he added.

Chirag and Satwik will take part in this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris, with the pair touted to win a medal for the country.

The pair won the French Open and Thailand Open this year after reaching the finals at the Malaysian Super 750 and India Super 750.

India captain Rohit Sharma has suggested that he would’ve dropped Suryakumar Yadav from the team if he had not taken David Miller‘s catch in the T20 World Cup final last week. In the final over of the match, Miller hit a wide full toss from Hardik Pandya but Suryakumar was able to catch the ball inside the ropes at long-off, realised it just as he went over the boundary, and then came back in to complete an astonishing catch. Rohit, Suryakumar, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal were all felicitated by the Maharashtra goverment after Team India’s success at the T20 World Cup.

During the event, Rohit revealed what Suryakumar told him after taking the catch. The India captain joked he would’ve dropped Suryakumar from the team had he not completed the catch.

“Suryakumar Yadav said the ball landed in his hands, it’s good that it did…Otherwise, I would have dropped him from the team,” Rohit joked, leaving Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and other members in splits.

Rohit : It’s good that Suryakumar Yadav said the ball landed in his hands, otherwise I would have removed him from the team later on.

This man is legit troller

pic.twitter.com/YCQBCCjeWP

— Aditi. (@Sassy_Soul_) July 5, 2024

Suryakumar’s catch had sparked a debate on social media with many claiming that the boundary cushion was pushed outside deliberately during the second innings to give the Indian team an unfair advantage.

Several video angles of the catch went viral on social media with many claiming that it was not a fair catch.

However, the allegation was wrong as the boundary cushion was outside the line even during the Indian innings.

It is quite a common way of changing the positions of boundary ropes ahead of the a match, depending on the pitch being selected for a game.

“I am just grateful to be in that moment to do something special for the country…god’s plan it was,” Suryakumar had told PTI about the catch.

A fresh video angle seems to have finally put to rest Suryakumar Yadav‘s sensational catch that came in the final of 2024 T20 World Cup against South Africa in Barbados. The stunning grab from Suryakumar at the boundary line was so close that it led to a controversy. Needing 16 runs from the final over, South Africa had David Miller on the strike. The southpaw hit a wide full toss from Hardik Pandya but Suryakumar was able to catch the ball inside the ropes at long-off, realised it just as he went over the boundary, and then came back in to complete an astonishing catch.

Several video angles of the catch went viral on social media with many claiming that it was not a fair catch. However, the fresh video shows that it was a clean grab from Surya.

Watch it here:

Many user on social media also claimed that the boundary cushion was pushed outside deliberately during the second innings to give the Indian team an unfair advantage.

The allegation was wrong as the boundary cushion was outside the line even during the Indian innings. The fresh video also confirms it.

It is quite a common way of changing the positions of boundary ropes ahead of the a match, depending on the pitch being selected for a game.

“I am just grateful to be in that moment to do something special for the country…god’s plan it was,” Suryakumar had told PTI about the catch.

For many old-time fans, the catch brought back memories of the unbelievable one taken by Kapil Dev in the 1983 World Cup final against the mighty West Indies. Viv Richards top-edged a Madan Lal delivery and Kapil ran sideways from mid-on to take the blinder.

Rohit Sharma has joked that he would have dropped Suryakumar Yadav from the India playing XI had he dropped the catch that dismissed David Miller during the 2024 T20 World Cup final. Suryakumar Yadav arguably took the catch of the tournament while fielding at long-off in the first ball of the final over of the match, with South Africa needing 16 in six balls. The catch meant that Miller – South Africa’s last recognized batter in the game – was back in the dugout, and a potential six was prevented.

Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal – all of whom represent Mumbai in Ranji Trophy – met Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday, July 5. It was there that Rohit cracked his joke.

“After Surya caught the ball, he told me that the ball sat in his hand. Thank goodness it did. Otherwise, I would have sat him out,” joked Rohit.

David Miller had swung hard on the first ball of the final over, looking for an explosive start to the final over being bowled by Hardik Pandya. It needed a special effort from Suryakumar Yadav to grasp the catch, as he had to first take it, then throw it up, and finally run back from outside the boundary ropes to collect that catch.

India would go on to win the final by just seven runs, in a match that seemed to be out of their hands when South Africa needed just 30 runs in 30 balls.

Maharashtra CM announces Rs 11 crore prize money for victorious Team India

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also announced a prize of Rs 11 crore for Team India. This comes after the BCCI had announced a whopping Rs 125 crore reward for the Indian team, after it won its second T20 World Cup title.

Suryakumar Yadav’s catch in the final over of the T20 World Cup final will go down the annals of Indian cricketing history as one of the seminal moments of the triumphant journey. During an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the team’s triumphant return home, Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) revealed what had helped him keep calm in that situation. “At that moment I did not think that I would catch it, I was thinking I’d push the ball in and save the boundary because the wind was also against me. Once I had the ball in my hand I thought I’d throw it the other side but Rohit bhai was too far at that time so I threw it in the air and caught it,” he said. “We have practised a lot for such situations as I think that I already do batting but where else can I contribute to the team,” said Yadav to the Hon’ble Prime Minister.

India needed to defend 16 runs in the last over thanks to a brilliant final few overs by Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, who restricted the opposition to two and four runs in their respective overs. Hardik Pandya’s first ball might not have been exactly where he meant to throw it but a brilliant effort by Suryakumar at long off saw the departure of David Miller and helped India lift the trophy.

#WATCH | During his interaction with PM Narendra Modi, Suryakumar Yadav said, “…At that moment I did not think whether I would be able to catch the ball or not and once the ball came in my hand, I had to pick it up and pass it to the other side… We have practised this thing a… pic.twitter.com/1dJ3G4taEd

— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2024

PM Modi also went on to ask if the team practices for catches so close to the boundary ropes ‘where you may have to throw the ball in the air’, to which Rahul Dravid revealed that Surya has taken ‘150-160 such catches in the practice.’

“Ever since I came from the IPL, I had taken many such catches but did not know God would give me the opportunity at such a time. The practice helped me in keeping calm at that point. The only difference was usually no one was sitting in the stands but there were quite a lot of people at that time,” joked SKY.

PM Modi said that he could not help but appreciate the effort from Suryakumar Yadav in such a big match and even called him lucky that such a big occasion is now connected to SKY’s life.