On June 29 in Barbados, South Africa was defeated by the Indian cricket team led by Rohit Sharma by 7 runs in the final.
The entire nation of India rejoiced in an ICC global victory after 11 years as well as a second T20 world cup triumph in 17 years.
Laxman, former Indian batsman, lauded the “indomitable spirit” of the side that won the T20 World Cup “from the jaws of defeat”, and said that this manifested through ‘their’ players and Rahul Dravid’s intense celebration at NCA (National Cricket Academy), Bangalore.
“ After us being under pressure with South Africa batters needing 30 runs off 30 balls where we had that kind of finish. And from there to show character, resilience and self-belief to pull off the match from the jaws of defeat, it shows the character of the entire team”. This video was posted by BCCI on its ‘X’ handle,” Laxman said.
“ The amount of hard work they put in, told bigger story behind this victory (referring to celebrations amongst players & support staff)”, he added.
VVS Laxman who is visiting Zimbabwe as Team India coach currently but also heads National Cricket Academy (NCA) at Chinnaswamy Stadium has revealed how much each player meant his emotions during those exuberant team celebrations were more meaningful than words could ever describe for him.
“It is obviously special winning a World Cup. The best part about competing against them and then lifting trophy makes a whole lot sense for all these guys who are participating in it.”
“ Everybody showed their emotions; you could see how important it was to every person within our group starting from players to support staff; emotions were running really high. You saw Hardik Pandya breaking down once he bowled last delivery. You saw Rohit Sharma on ground.
“All over the country this victory has been celebrated. It’s a special feeling considering we had come so close (to winning the title) six months back (ODI World Cup). We should have won the 50-over World Cup, dominating the whole tournament but just falling short of crossing the ultimate task”, he added.
Laxman expressed surprise at Dravid’s outburst, given his past aversion to public emotional displays, according to PTI.
“Somebody like Rahul who I played so much cricket with, known him for so long and then for him to even show those emotions just when that last ball was bowled and also those different chats that he was having with a few team members and when he picked up the trophy.
“I thought it was a great gesture by Rohit and Virat Kohli to hand over the trophy to him (Dravid) and the way he celebrated by lifting the trophy, it showed how much it meant to each one of them,” Laxman said recalling his famous partnership with Dravid in Kolkata in 2001 against Australia where they scored 376 runs after following-on.
Laxman cited skipper Rohit Sharma performances, star batman Virat Kohli performances as well as Ravindra Jadeja all-rounder roles in T20 format for which he praised these three players declaring their retirements from T20Is after winning T20 world cup.
“My communique to these veterans of the game, Virat, Rohit and Ravindra Jadeja, an incredibly skilled player who has been extremely instrumental in advancing India’s team. Kudos for the input you’ve made in this great game and be role models to young people. The zeal and enthusiasm with which they played was remarkable.
“Even though they have retired from this form of the game, I am positive that they will continue preparing like before and continue bringing glory to the nation.
“Huge congratulations for a brilliant T20 career and I am sure that they will carry on making contributions into test cricket as well as in ODIs.”
