India beats South Africa to win T20 World Cup cricket title : NPR

Indian players celebrate with the winners' trophy in hand after beating South Africa in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final cricket match at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday.

Ramon Espinosa/The Associated Press

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Ramon Espinosa/The Associated Press

The Indian men's cricket team on Saturday played a closely fought match against South Africa in the Twenty20 World Cup final, ending the country's 13-year title drought in international cricket.

Both India and South Africa were unbeaten going into Saturday's match in Barbados, and while South Africa looked to have a chance of winning the match, India thwarted their attempt to surpass India's 176-run total.

This is India's second T20 World Cup win, having won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. It is also India's first World Cup win in 13 years across any type of cricket, after a series of heartbreaking finals over the past 12 months.

“The players understand what to do when pressure is on,” India team captain Rohit Sharma said. “Today was a perfect example. [we] We were frozen with our backs against the wall. We really wanted this… I'm so proud of these boys and the management team.”

Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, but many Americans are unfamiliar with it. T20 is a shortened form of cricket. In a T20 match, each team has 20 overs. In each over, the opposing team's bowler (similar to a pitcher) bowls six balls, which the batter (similar to a batter) must hit. Each time a batter hits a ball, they score a “run,” which counts towards their team's score. Each over features two batters.

“The easiest way to score runs, or maybe the hardest way, is to hit the ball as hard as you can over the boundary line, that edge of the field,” says Omkar Khandekar, a producer for NPR in Mumbai, India. Morning edition. “Once you can do that, start running between what's called the pitch. The more you run, the more points you'll score.”

India overcame an early crisis

Virat Kohli, one of the team's top batsmen, played a key role in India's eventual victory over South Africa. The Indian team struggled right from the start after deciding to bat first, scoring just 34 runs in the first five overs. This meant that in the first quarter that India batted, the team averaged just about one run per ball.

But Kohli helped India pick up the batting average. When India finished batting, the score was 176 for 7. That means India scored 176 in 120 balls with seven players out.

India's Virat Kohli expressed his joy after his team's victory over South Africa in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final cricket match at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday.

Ricardo Mazarin/AP

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Ricardo Mazarin/AP

Kohli announced after the match that this would be his final appearance in the T20 World Cup.

“This was my last T20 World Cup and this is what we wanted to achieve,” Kohli said. “I got the job done for the team on a big day and now it's time for the next generation to take over. We have some great players who will take the team forward and keep the flag flying high.”

Kohli performed brilliantly in the final match, achieving what is known in cricket as a “half-century”, when a batsman scores 50 runs while his team is batting.

South Africa's Tabraiz Shamsi (L) reacts after their loss to India in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final cricket match at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday.

Ricardo Mazarin/AP

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Ricardo Mazarin/AP

South Africa looked strong when they put themselves in to bat, scoring 147 in 15 overs thanks in part to Heinrich Klaassen's performance, but once he was out the team began to falter, with Marco Jansen managing just two runs before being run out by Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah.

Bumrah's hard-to-hit bowling style earned him the title of 'Player of the Tournament'.

David Miller scored 21 in 17 balls for South Africa, but a brilliant catch by India's Suryakumar Yadav in the final over of the tournament saw Miller dismissed, and the rest of South Africa's batsmen were unable to score the remaining runs needed to win. In the end, South Africa lost by just 7 runs.

It was South Africa's first time competing in an international cricket final.

“It's disappointing,” South African captain Aiden Markram said, “it's pretty tough but I'm very proud. We never got complacent and things moved quickly in the second half but we were in a great position to prove we deserved to be in the final.”