India ends cricket curse after beating South Africa to win T20 World Cup

Rohit Sharma was out on the field, hitting the Kensington Oval turf several times. Captaining the mighty India, the undisputed powerhouse of cricket, is an uncompromising role with the hopes and dreams of a billion people on your back.

The control is always 100% and Rohit, like everyone who has stepped into these big shoes, has often been a punching bag. An ashen-faced Rohit looked as if he had seen a ghost in the aftermath of India's home final loss to Australia in last year's 50-over World Cup.

But all the fear and anguish came to the surface when an emotional Rohit realised that he had led India to the T20 World Cup title after a thrilling seven-run win over South Africa.

Cricket's most baffling curse is over, with India ending an 11-year format drought. It was only their second T20 World Cup title, having won the inaugural edition in 2007 – a triumph that changed the course of cricket forever as the shorter T20 format took hold.

Mighty India is simply the powerhouse of cricket, both on and off the field. They have a deep pool of talent, from a bottomless pool, that every other nation would envy.

India has been the most consistent team across all formats over the past decade but has yet to win any titles.

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They are like the US in basketball, where all eyes are on them every time they play. Only winning is acceptable, anything else is considered a failure by their totally devoted followers and bombastic media.

Even the finances that were in their favour had not helped them. The Indian governing body has a $6 billion media rights deal for the Indian Premier League and will receive almost 40% of the revenue from the International Cricket Council’s new $3 billion broadcasting deal.

The final was a microcosm of India's influence in a sport whose finances are almost entirely dependent on the world's most populous country, which also happens to be obsessed with cricket.

Cricket may be venturing into the US to find a new, profitable market, but India's stranglehold on the sport was underlined by the final in Barbados being played at the odd hour of 10.30pm. This was because the match was being replayed during prime time at 8.30pm to an audience of hundreds of millions in India.

With such an early start, the crowd was probably shaking off their morning giddiness; the atmosphere felt rather subdued considering the size of the event. Since it wasn’t an evening event, it also looked less aesthetically pleasing, but the competition made up for it.

Both teams, who reached the final unbeaten, got what they wanted. India batted first as their preference, while South Africa didn't mind, with their entire set of heavy hitters preferring to rake in a total.

Rohit had been perhaps the most influential figure in the tournament, batting ultra-aggressively in a selfless act in an attempt to set the tone. There had been some speculation before the World Cup that Rohit and superstar Virat Kohli were on the outside of the format after India's weary humiliating exit in Australia two years ago.

But as expected, India’s hierarchy stuck with the legends in what may well be their final World Cup appearances. It seemed perhaps fate that Rohit would impose his will, just as he did against fellow powers Australia, who were thrashed by the inspired Indian captain and shockingly eliminated from the tournament.

Rohit spent the entire tournament looking for revenge after last year's heartbreaking World Cup final. But he fell in the second over and Rishabh Pant was dismissed two balls later, leaving Kohli, who had endured a miserable tournament so far, to play quietly.

Kohli's opponents are sharpening their knives after he posted his slowest ever T20I half-century. But Kohli, who revealed after the match that he was retiring from T20Is, then lit the fuse to ensure India posted a competitive score and piled the pressure back on South Africa, who were looking to end three decades of World Cup misery.

It was a seesaw of a chase that had South Africa on course for a stunning upset until Jasprit Bumrah, arguably India’s greatest ever bowler, bowled a delivery from the cricketing gods to topple Marco Jansen in the 18th over and India were unbeatable from there on.

It was only a matter of time before India celebrated the festival with joy and claimed their rightful place at the top of the cricket tree. With their cricket supreme boss Jay Shah basking in the glory and only adding to their almighty flexibility, this could well be the start of India's domination that has felt inevitable for a long time.

Take it from me: India won't have to wait another decade for a title.