1st Time In Indian Cricket: Rishabh Pant Sets Hits Low With Duck In T20 World Cup 2024 Final

India scored a record-high total in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa with Virat Kohli playing the lead role. Talismanic batterKohli stepped up to the plate, ending his lean patch with a 59-ball 76 to help India post a competitive 176/7 against South Africa in the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 at the Kensington Oval here on Saturday.

On a dry and slow pitch, South Africa made early inroads by picking three quick wickets. But Kohli stood up to be at the centre of India's innings, despite a middle-overs slowdown, with his crucial knock laced with six fours and two sixes, as they posted the highest total in a Men's T20 World Cup final.

It was a knock in which Kohli scored more than what his first seven innings in the tournament yielded (75 runs). His 72-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Axar Patel, who made 47 off 31 balls, and a 57-run partnership with Shivam Dube, who hit a 16-ball 27, helped India go past the 175-run mark, as they hammered 42 runs off the last three overs.

Kohli got India going with three boundaries – drive through point, whip through square leg, and straight drive – on overpitched deliveries from Marco Jansen, as 15 runs came off the opening over. Rohit Sharma cut and reverse-swept for consecutive boundaries off Keshav Maharaj.

But Maharaj bounced back as he had Rohit sweeping aerially to square-leg to fall for nine, followed by dismissing Rishabh Pant for a two-ball duck when the top-edge on his sweep off a full and wide ball ballooned off the toe-end to keeper Quinton de Kock.

Pant is now the first Indian batter to fall for 0 in the final of a T20 World Cup. The previous lowest score was 4 by Ajinkya Rahane in the 2014 edition. 

So far, before Pant, five other Indians