NEW DELHI: Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, India will be hoping to finally bring an ICC trophy back home to end an 11-year title drought when they face South Africa in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup on Saturday.
Both the teams enter the final unbeaten, setting the stage for an electrifying clash in Barbados.
The final presents the last opportunity for Rohit, who has previously led India to three ICC tournament finals. However, the team has faced successive defeats, losing to Australia in the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup, both in 2023. In his first outing as the Indian captain at the 2022 T20 World Cup, India lost to England in the semi-final.
With the T20 World Cup final being Rohit’s last chance to secure an ICC title in this format, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly told reporters, “I don’t think he can lose two World Cup finals in seven (six) months. He will probably jump into the Barbados ocean if he loses two finals under his captaincy in seven months.”
“He has led from the front, batted brilliantly, and I hope it continues tomorrow. Hope India finishes on the right side, and they should play with freedom. They have been the best side of the competition. I wish them luck, I wish they win. Hope they have a little bit of luck tomorrow because that is required to win big tournaments,” Ganguly added.
Despite the challenges, Rohit has a remarkable record in domestic cricket, leading Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles, the most by any captain in the league’s history. Ganguly says the difficulty of winning an IPL title is higher as it requires a team to win more matches than an ICC tournament.
“Rohit has the record of winning five IPL titles, which is huge achievement. Winning an IPL sometimes is more difficult. Don’t misquote me, I’m not saying IPL is better than international cricket,” said Ganguly.
“But you have to win 16-17 (12-13) matches to win an IPL; here you need to win 8-9 matches to win a World Cup. The honour is more in winning the World Cup.