Bumrah the standout as Shastri picks favourite moments from Men’s T20 World Cup 2024

Shastri followed the tournament closely as a commentator and listed his standout moments from the T20 World Cup that saw India defeat South Africa by just seven runs in a thrilling final in Barbados.

The ICC Review podcast: Ravi Shastri on India's T20 World Cup win, and the way forward from here

When asked by host Sanjana Ganesan on the latest episode of The ICC Review to pick his favourite match from the event, the 62-year-old selected the Group A encounter between India and Pakistan in New York while the T20 World Cup final also received a special mention.

India fought back with the ball against Pakistan in an engaging contest after they were reduced to 119, and eventually took the game by six runs.

“I think India-Pakistan because India were made to fight there and realise what the right combination should be going forward in the tournament. That and then of course the final, those final five overs [from the T20 World Cup final],” Shastri said.

The two games also featured in Shastri’s favourite moments from the tournament.

In the group encounter, Pakistan were comfortably placed at 80/3 with a set Mohammad Rizwan standing in India’s way. But pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who had been held back for the death overs struck back, bowling Rizwan and shifting the momentum back to India.

“I'd say one was Jasprit [Bumrah] getting Mohammad Rizwan. Extremely crucial, because that could have tilted the balance of the game. And it happened on the first ball of a new spell,” he added.

Bumrah also featured in Shastri’s other favourite moment, during his game-changing spell in the final against South Africa. The pacer conceded merely four runs in the 16th over before getting a big breakthrough in the next over.

“Brought back into the attack and then getting it to reverse and sneak through bat and pad [of Marco Jansen], I thought that was a very, very important wicket at that time,” Shastri recalled.

“Hardik [Pandya] had done the main damage by taking Klaasen [in the previous over] but I thought back-to-back, that over and that wicket was extremely important.”

It was no surprise then that Bumrah was the standout bowler for Shastri, with the former all-rounder in awe of his prodigious control and accuracy.

“He just showed the world what it takes and you know, it's not often in your career when you have a ball in your hand and you say, do this and the ball does that,” Shastri said of Bumrah.

Bumrah was the Player of the Tournament for his 15 wickets at an average of 8.26, which led Shastri to compare the 30-year-old to three former greats of the game.

“Very few have done it, I thought Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis] had it in their prime when they played white-ball cricket. Shane Warne had it where he could literally tell the ball, go there, pitch there, hit leg stump,” Shastri said.

“People who are on top of the game have that ability. I think Bumrah had that in this World Cup.”

For the catch of the tournament, Shastri went with none other than Surykumar Yadav, who took a stunner at a crucial stage in the final.

“I think that was a game changer because you know what David [Miller] can do,” Shastri said.

“Another big shot [from Miller], and then, you know, the game's in the balance. So, I thought the timing couldn't have been better.”

When asked about the biggest surprise of the tournament, Shastri picked Rishabh Pant’s comeback to international cricket after his horrific accident in December 2022.

The 26-year-old’s keeping especially stood out to him. While he was generally safe behind the stumps, Pant’s big moment came against Pakistan. Pant topped a match-winning 42 in the group game with three sharp catches.

“He did his job with the bat, but it was his keeping that really surprised everyone. For someone to recover that quickly and then move the way he did. He hardly missed anything, albeit he must have felt the pressure as the tournament got on because it's not easy to come back and do all the stuff he did,” Shastri said.