We are the champions | #212
Was Rohit inspired by Leo or Ric Flair? 👉
On 29th June, Virat Kohli steadied the ship, Axar Patel hammered a few.Â
Arshdeep broke through and Bumrah did his bit through and through.Â
But Surya had to take grab something from the sky
And with that there were tears in many an eye.Â
India won its 2nd ever T20 World Cup title, ending a 11 year drought without an ICC Trophy. This win was deserved for this team which had lost tournament finals in the other 2 formats last year.Â
So this week let’s take a celebratory sip of champagne and look at some interesting stories from the recent World Cup.Â
Things we learnt this week 🤓
The nation was thrilled to bits after seeing images of Barbados ka Gunda, Rahul Dravid finally lifting the trophy. On his final day on the job, he was able to secure a trophy to seal his legacy as coach. But this wasn’t the first World Title he won as a coach. Back in 2018, he was the coach of the India U19 team that was led by Prithvi Shaw and included future internationals Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi and more potential internationals in Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma. One name common to both the 2018 U19 team and the class of 2024 is Arshdeep Singh. He only played 2 games in 2018, but emerged as the top wicket taker in the 2024 edition with 17 wickets. Singh may be king, the Wall is really standing tall!
In most World Cups, you see a team wearing Yellow dominate the tournament. Do you remember which team wore Yellow? South Africa did have yellow, but also had plenty of green. The Australian team predominantly wore Green, with a dash of yellow. The team that was in yellow this time was the team nicknamed Cricket Cranes - Uganda. It gave us among the more heartwarming stories of the World Cup when they beat Papua New Guinea to get their first ever World Cup tournament win. Frank Nsuguba, a sprightly 43 year old, weaved magic with his off spin taking 2 wickets for 4 runs. A performance that would have made many legends in yellow really proud.Â
It may be forgotten now, but Oman and Namibia played out a thrilling tie, which the Namibians, having the experienced David Wiese in the ranks, managed to pull through and win. But for the Omanese skipper Aqib Ilyas, playing at the world cup itself was a huge win. A few months after the T20 World Cup in 2021, he lost a friend to cancer. Few days later, he developed acute pain in his leg and it turned out that he too had the exact same cancer. After complicated surgery and rehab which took 18 months, Aqib Ilyas made a triumphant return to the Omanese team. He proved to be their middle order lynchpin and was named the captain of the Omanese cricket team for the T20 World Cup. Truly inspirational.Â
From IWTK, with love 💌
Can you identify the one missing poster from this video?Â
Was it because of Messi or because of Ric Flair? WOOOO!
Only In India 🇮🇳
This is one way to ensure no one suspects you of cheating.Â
<3 IWTK
We are the champions We are the champions
No time for losers' Cause we are the champions of the World