Bridgetown (Barbados): India skipper Rohit Sharma was full of emotions after the title-clinching seven-run win over South Africa in the T20 World Cup final in Barbados on Saturday.
Rohit, who finished the tournament as India’s highest run-getter, was fully pumped up as India ended their more than decade-long ICC title drought in the absence of legendary captain MS Dhoni.
Just after securing the title, Rohit patted multiple times on the ground and was also seen eating the soil of Kensington Oval’s pitch later as Indian players continued their celebrations on the ground.
The official ‘X’ account of Wimbledon shared pictures of Rohit and Novak Djokovic in similar action, drawing similarity between the two greats of their respective sports.
Netizens were also quick to notice Rohit’s epic soil eating celebration similar to that of Djokovic, who has a habit of eating grass after winning the Wimbledon Grand Slam.
Previously, Rohit had also admitted to being a Djokovic fan.
Rohit, who had played in each edition of the T20 World Cup, announced his retirement from the T20I following the footsteps of his teammate Virat Kohli. Both players will continue to play the ODI and Test cricket for the country.
In a nervy summit clash, Men in Blue remained calm and composed in a pressure situation and successfully defended 176 despite Heinrich Klaasen’s fiery 52 off 27 balls. Hardik Pandya bagged the pricey dismissal and scripted the late fight back to get their hands on the second shortest format title.
India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah also built the pressure from the other end and bagged the wicket of Marco Jansen before Pandya returned to stamp his authority with the scalps of David Miller and Kagiso Rabada in the final over to restrict them to 169/8 in 20 overs.
Earlier, India won the toss and opted to bat first but were reeling at 34/3 after 4.3 overs as they lost Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav inside the powerplay.
However, Kohli stepped up on the occasion and played an anchor knock of 76 off 59 balls while Axar Patel scored 47 off 31 balls to take their total to 176/7.
(IANS)
