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India won the T20 World Cup 2024 final, but by the 15th over of the title match against South Africa, it was decided who would be the biggest villain if the Indian team lost the match. Virat Kohli’s name was coming first and Akshar Patel’s name was second and to some extent captain Rohit Sharma was also being blamed as South Africa needed just 30 runs from 30 balls to win. However, the bowlers did wonders and Team India won the title and everyone’s perspective changed accordingly. At the same time, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has made a sensational claim that Virat Kohli does not deserve the Player of the Match award.
Team India won the final by 7 runs and became the champions of the T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli became the player of the match, but Sanjay Manjrekar has made it clear that the bowlers saved Virat Kohli. He believes that the real heroes of the match were Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya, who worked to turn the match around in the last five overs. Manjrekar has said that he is wondering why Virat Kohli got the player of the match award. Virat played an innings of 76 runs off 59 balls, but this innings did not look as impressive as the bowling of Bumrah, Arshdeep and Hardik.
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Sanjay Manjrekar on ESPNcricinfo said that Kohli’s innings of 76 off 59 balls put India in trouble, but the fast bowlers came in and took over. Manjrekar also said that his choice for player of the match would not have been Kohli, but any Indian bowler. He said, “After playing that innings, Hardik Pandya, one of their most dangerous batsmen, faced only two balls. So I thought India’s batting was good, but Virat Kohli could have played such an innings. That could have put India in trouble. And it was almost proved, but the bowlers made a comeback.”
Manjrekar further said, “India was in a losing position, South Africa had a 90 per cent chance of winning. The change in the match actually saved Virat Kohli’s innings, as he played almost half the innings with a strike rate of 128. The match would have been one bowler as he actually took the game away from defeat and won it for India.” However, former Zimbabwean cricketer Andy Flower has said that India put 176 runs on the board based on his batting, but also admitted that Virat Kohli would have been heavily criticized if India had lost.