2024 T20 World Cup

Result

Player of the Match (Final)

Virat Kohli, India

Tournament format

First 20-team edition, and the first co-hosted in part by the United States. 4 groups of 5, round robin, top 2 per group advancing directly into an 8-team "Super 8" stage (2 groups of 4) -- no separate qualifying first round this time, all 20 teams entered the group stage directly. Semi-finals then a final; 55 matches across 9 venues (6 in the Caribbean, 3 in the US).

Full match archive

Every match of the 2024 tournament, not just the final — all 54 group-stage, Super 8 and semi-final matches. See all 54 matches →

Final: match context

India won their second men's T20 World Cup title -- and first since the inaugural 2007 tournament -- beating South Africa by 7 runs at Kensington Oval in a final defined by a stunning defensive comeback in its closing overs. Batting first, India lost three early wickets cheaply, including captain Rohit Sharma for just 9. Virat Kohli then rebuilt the innings, putting on 72 runs with Axar Patel across nine overs before Patel fell in the 14th over; Kohli added a further 57 with Shivam Dube before he too was dismissed in the 19th over. Kohli's innings of 76 off 59 balls, with six fours and two sixes, was the backbone of India's total, though South Africa's bowlers tightened at the death -- Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortje each took two wickets -- to hold India to 176 for 7. South Africa's chase lost captain Aiden Markram early for 4, but Quinton de Kock (39) and Tristan Stubbs (31) added 58 before Stubbs fell in the ninth over. Heinrich Klaasen then produced an electric innings of 52 off just 27 balls, reaching fifty in only 23 deliveries with five sixes, putting South Africa firmly in the ascendancy with partnerships of 36 with de Kock and 45 with David Miller. But India's bowling clamped down dramatically in the final four overs, taking four wickets for just 18 runs -- Hardik Pandya alone claiming three wickets in that decisive closing burst -- to complete an extraordinary turnaround and deny South Africa what had, midway through the chase, looked like a near-certain victory. The result was South Africa's first-ever appearance in a men's T20 World Cup final, a landmark for a team that had long carried an unwanted reputation as ICC tournament "chokers" after a string of near-misses in white-ball knockout cricket stretching back decades; falling agonisingly short again in the final itself only deepened that narrative in the short term. For India, it was a second T20 World Cup title and third final overall, and the team became the first ever to win the tournament unbeaten throughout. The match also marked the final T20 international appearances for both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who each announced their retirement from the format immediately after the win -- turning the trophy lift into a farewell moment for two of the format's most decorated players, on the same ground where England had claimed their own maiden ICC world title fourteen years earlier.

Sources

• Wikipedia: 2024 Men's T20 World Cup final
• Wikipedia: 2024 Men's T20 World Cup
• ESPNcricinfo: India vs South Africa, Final, match report