It was on this day (June 29) last year that India ended their long wait for a global title in international cricket. The Rohit Sharma-led team lifted the T20 World Cup in Barbados after a last-over win against South Africa. India won by seven runs to clinch their first ICC trophy in 12 years, having won the previous one in 2013 when MS Dhoni and his men beat England to win the Champions Trophy.
One of the most told stories about the World Cup win was how Rishabh Pant faked an injury to break South Africa’s momentum in the chase, which was followed by Heinrich Klaasen’s game-changing dismissal.
Speaking on ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’, Rohit had credited Pant for the clever use of the loophole, which helped India regroup after Klaasen took Axar Patel to the cleaners.
“When South Africa needed 30 runs off 30 balls, just before that, there was a small break. Pant used his intelligence to pause the game – he had a knee injury, so he had his knee taped, which helped slow down the game – because the game was fast-paced, and at that moment, all a batter wants is the ball to be bowled quickly. But we had to break the rhythm. As I was setting the field and talking to bowlers, suddenly I saw Pant fallen on the ground. The physiotherapist had arrived and was taping his knee. Klassen was waiting for the match to start again. I am not saying it’s the only reason, but it could be one of them – Pant Sahab used his smarts and things worked out in our favour,” he had said.
However, in a fresh claim made on the incident, the former India T20I captain said that he initially felt Pant was truly injured. The 37-year-old felt the wicketkeeper-batter had hurt his knee, which had suffered a blow in the tragic car accident in 2022.
“See, Hardik has come to bowl there. So, we were discussing with Hardik what to do. I didn’t know what had happened before. I genuinely thought that something had happened to him. The accident he had, I thought he was just trying to. But actually, it was just to stop the game a little bit. The momentum was with them. So, it was very important to break that. So, I think we went back to that. Eventually, Hardik dismissed Klaasen,” he told Star Sports in an interview.
How did Pant’s act disrupt South Africa’s plan?
Klaasen was in complete control of the chase, with the Proteas needing 26 off the last 24 balls. A well-set David Miller was also at the crease. However, just when the India captain was setting the field for the next over and was having a word with bowler Hardik Pandya, he noticed Pant was down on the ground with the team physio attending to him.
When play resumed after the short delay, Pandya removed Klaasen, before Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Marco Jansen with an in-swinger that would get most top-order batters out. Hardik and Arshdeep Singh applied the brakes from the other end as India choked South Africa to win the match by seven runs.
