India finally crossed the finish line after a wait of more than 10 years as they clinched the T20 World Cup title in Barbados on Saturday.
Rohit Sharma's team had stormed into the final unbeaten, just like their opponents South Africa who were playing their first World Cup title match. And it was possibly the last chance for senior members of the Indian team to win a world title together.
The final turned into one of the most memorable matches in recent times as India held their nerve to complete a seven-run win and lift the crown. The Proteas were left heartbroken and will take a long time to recover from the shock of losing the match from a winning position of 30 needed from 30 balls with six wickets in hand.
India thus won their first major trophy since 2013 and ended their torrid run in title matches after losing the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals over the past 12 months – both to Australia.
For both finalists, the opportunity to lift the trophy is all that mattered. But there is also the matter of prize money, which is significant.
How much prize money did India win?
The International Cricket Council announced its biggest ever prize pool for the tournament. Winners India took home a winners' cheque of $2.45 million, plus a bonus of $31,154 for each match won – excluding the semi-final and final – which turns out to be $187,000. South Africa received a runners-up cheque of $1.28m, and a similar bonus.
The Indian team, however, received a substantially bigger prize money from their own cricket board. The BCCI announced a staggering winning bonus of $15m. That amount is bigger than the entire prize pool of the T20 World Cup, which stood at $11.25m.
Slew of retirements
The T20 World Cup final will remain etched in the memory of Indian cricket fans for a long time. Not only did their team become the first to remain unbeaten throughout a T20 World Cup campaign, they also came back from the brink in the final that looked as good as lost.
After an emotional victory in Bridgetown, superstar Virat Kohli announced it was his last T20 in India colours. He did so while accepting his player-of-the-match award for his knock of 76. A few minutes later, captain Rohit Sharma told the post-match press conference that he, too, had played his last T20 International.
And as the dust settled on a night-long celebration across the globe, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja also called it a day in T20Is.
The announcements have come at the perfect time as new management prepares to take over. According to reports, former opener Gautam Gambhir is set to take over as India coach and a new set of players are expected to come into the team.
During the recently concluded T20 World Cup, a number of T20 specialists like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh and Sanju Samson did not get a place in the team while other talented youngsters were not even considered.
As it turned out, India needed the experience of every senior member in the squad on some exceptionally difficult surfaces in the US and Caribbean.
Longer format players excelled in Test match like conditions there, but it is highly unlikely than any world event will have such playing conditions in the future.
The Indian board has thus decided to back T20 specialists, and especially those who have performed consistently in the IPL and domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
