"I thought it was over" - Axar Patel reveals his reaction after Heinrich Klaasen's onslaught in T20 World Cup 2024 final

Team India all-rounder Axar Patel recently opened up about South African middle-order batter Heinrich Klaasen's onslaught against him in the final match of the T20 World Cup 2024. Axar Patel stated that he felt the World Cup might be lost after Heinrich Klaasen's aggressive batting during the summit clash.

Axar Patel looked off-color and failed to contain the flow of runs against South Africa in the 2024 T20 World Cup final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on June 29. The left-arm spinner gave away 49 runs in his full quota of overs. He managed to secure the wicket of Tristan Stubbs in a high-pressure match.

Heinrich Klaasen targeted Axar Patel in his last over during the final match. The right-handed batter smashed Axar for 24 runs, including two sixes and two fours. Klaasen's powerful hitting turned the game in South Africa's favor. The Proteas needed only 30 runs from 30 balls to win their first-ever World Cup.

Had That Intuition That We Might Turn It Around - Axar Patel

In an interview with The Indian Express, Axar Patel said that he lost hope after Klaasen's aggressive batting. However, Patel regained hope when then-Indian skipper Rohit Sharma encouraged him. He stated that the team maintained their fighting spirit and pushed the game to the last ball.

"For the first five seconds Yes, I thought it was over. I was down but I had that intuition that we might turn it around. Rohit bhai came to me and told me ‘match khatam nahi hua hai (Match is not over yet).’ In the bilateral series when you get hit, you immediately let your shoulders down, and your body language shows that you have given up. But in that match, none of us were ready to give up. We wanted to take it to the final ball of the 20th over," Axar Patel said.

Rohit Sharma handed the ball to pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah to bowl the 16th over. Bumrah gave away just four runs to keep India's hopes alive. Hardik Pandya then dismissed Klaasen on the first ball of the 17th over. The Indian pacers successfully managed to contain boundaries in the death overs.

South Africa needed 16 runs to win in the last over of the 2024 T20 World Cup final match. Hardik Pandya took a crucial wicket on the first ball by dismissing David Miller, who had scored 21 runs off 17 deliveries. Suryakumar Yadav made an exceptional catch at the boundary line to dismiss the left-handed batter.

The South Africa team fell short by seven runs in the summit clash. Virat Kohli was named Player of the Match for his impressive knock of 76 runs off 59 deliveries. Axar Patel contributed significantly with 47 runs off 31 deliveries, especially after the early dismissals of Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Suryakumar Yadav.

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