Bridgetown, Barbados – And then there were two.
India and South Africa reached the final of the T20 World Cup, each team unbeaten in the group stage, Super Eights and semi-finals.
Both teams arrived in Barbados on Thursday night ahead of Saturday's final, such is the hectic – even chaotic – nature of the congested matches. South Africa waited all day at the airport for a delayed charter flight from Trinidad. India flew out after their semi-final victory over England in Guyana and finally landed around midnight.
But both teams have made much longer journeys and faced greater obstacles than logistics to get to this point at Kensington Oval.
India has faced and defeated two enemies. They banished bitter memories of last year's defeat to Australia in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad. They stunned England, the defending champions who eliminated them from the 2022 T20 World Cup in the semi-final in Adelaide, with a reversal in the semi-final in Georgetown.
Nine players from the 2023 one-day squad are in Barbados and yet this looks like a completely different India team. They have no discernible weaknesses and while their victories have not all been easy, they have never looked like losing.
In the United States and the Caribbean, there has not been the same television and print coverage of their every move. Crowds and travelling press have often been sparse compared with those that followed them last year in India. Perhaps it has been a relief to play away from the crushing pressure of expectations at a World Cup on home soil.
A day before the final, there was no sign of them at Kensington Oval. There was no press conference, there was no training, there was no field inspection, there were no outside forces attacking them.
Rohit embodies India's effort at T20 World Cup
Their captain has embodied their new mentality. Sharma's batting has been brave and aggressive, never more so than in India's last two matches against Australia and England. His 92 off 41 at St. Lucia was an extraordinary display of bravery and power, and his half-century in the semi-final set the tone for India's dominance.
Before the match against England, he spoke about the change in approach that India has tried but only managed to master in this tournament.
“We have tried to play very freely in the last two or three years that we have played our T20 cricket and even ODI cricket,” Sharma said in Guyana. “So not much has changed as such. We saw throughout this tournament that the conditions had their own challenges. And we want to do that, we want to be a smart cricket team, we want to assess and play. The moment we realise it is a good pitch, we want to play the way we play.
“I’ve tried to keep things very simple for myself personally and also for the team because… these guys have played a lot of cricket, a lot of high-pressure games. You have to try and give them clarity on paper, which I think we’ve done quite well. And then obviously we want to trust them to make good decisions on the field.
“You have to be open-minded when you want to do things, but as far as the team and I were concerned, our priority was to keep things very simple and give them the freedom that everyone wants when playing this format.”
While South Africa does not carry the same burden of expectations from more than a billion people, the current players have lifted themselves from the burden that weighed even on the greats of the past by becoming the first men's team to win a semi-final.
Of the 2023 World Cup squad, 11 have returned for this tournament, with painful memories of a three-wicket loss to Australia in the semi-final. But unlike India, its problem is intergenerational; They have reached places where the likes of AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis and Allen Donald couldn't reach.
Their path to the final has been more tense, marked mostly by close finishes and near misses, the kind of scenarios that have dispatched better teams.
But, according to their captain, the difference is that this team has won the key moments and has remained calm under pressure.
“There were difficult moments in the matches that probably would have affected the outcome and we managed to win those moments,” Aiden Markram said in his pre-match press conference. “Having done them two, three, maybe four times throughout the competition so far has given the team confidence that you can win from any position, which I think is pretty important for a team.”
“We’ve been together for quite a few years as a white-ball team and the lads finally really understand their roles within the team. I think that’s starting to help us win those small margins and those tense moments.
“There is a very strong will to win. I don’t think it’s at the level of desperation, but it’s an extreme hunger to win cricket games, and we haven’t ideally achieved on the world stage what we would have liked and I think that gets the juices going a bit for the boys to finally get it done.
“You’ve seen it in the close results, you probably haven’t played some of our best games, but that will to win drives you, by hook or by crook, to get the job done. That’s probably something that really stood out to me in this group.”
South Africa receives 'a lot of support' ahead of India clash
All of these players have shared the pain of South Africa’s qualifying history, either as players or as fans. Markram said the “heartbreaking” 2015 World Cup semi-final, which New Zealand won with one ball remaining, was his worst memory. Former players from that team, and others before it, have shared their congratulations and encouragement in person or from afar.
“There's been a lot of support from former players, which is special for us as a group,” Markram said. “They are the guys who inspired us when we were younger and now, first of all, making them proud, but also having their support obviously means a lot to us as a team.
“The journey has finally taken us here to our first final, which is a special and proud feeling, not just for me but for everyone involved in the team, and to have a chance to win our first trophy you have to be in “Definitely having that opportunity and at least participating in that tomorrow is a great achievement for us.”
Markram was speaking at Kensington Oval, where six other South African players had arrived for an optional training session. They paced the pitch, occasionally getting down on their knees to inspect it more closely. Names like Baartman and Coetzee and Maharaj and Hendricks are not yet in the pantheon of South African greats, but that may change if they bring home South Africa’s first World Cup trophy.
To do so, they will have to defeat the team in the best form in the tournament.
India and South Africa have faced and overcome their demons, past and present, on the road to Bridgetown. But only one will take home the ultimate prize.
