Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant opened up on Suryakumar Yadav’s mind-boggling catch in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa. Pant believes that the ball didn’t cross the line because of the prayers of the die-hard fans waiting for an ICC trophy to come home after 11 years.
After being in huge trouble while defending the target of 177 against the South African batting unit, a death bowling masterclass by Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya helped India in defying the odds and win the match by 7 runs.
With 30 runs left to defend in as many balls, Pandya secured the crucial wicket of Klaasen in the 17th over before a fantastic catch from Suryakumar dismissed David Miller in the final over and turned the match completely into India’s favour.
Speaking on Tanmay Bhat’s YouTube channel, Pant recalled when the ball was in the air, everyone thought it would go for a six, but the fans’ prayers did not let it happen.
“When the ball was in the air, it felt like everything was gone. When it hit the bat, it seemed like a sure-shot six. The ball did not cross the boundary line because of the Indian fans’ prayers,” Pant said.
The Indian wicketkeeper-batter also revealed that when he was away from the game due to a road accident that happened back in 2022, all he thought about was winning the World Cup for India.
“As a cricketer, you dream of winning the World Cup. During the injury, I was thinking that I wanted to win the World Cup. To come back into the side and directly win the World Cup was an unbelievable feeling,” Pant said.
“I am not thinking much about it now because I feel in India people forget after 10-15 days what you have done. So, it is important for you to forget these things as well. That moment will always be there with me, but now we have to move on and focus on what’s next,” Pant added.
