What happened the last time India played the Men’s T20 World Cup final?
Team India qualified for the 2024 T20 World Cup final with a resounding 68-run win over England in Guyana. This marks the third time the Men in Blue have overcome the semi-final barrier in the competition after 2007 and 2014.
India's maiden final experience ended in triumph as they defeated Pakistan by five runs at the Wanderers in Johannesburg to win the trophy. But their second and most recent outing, which came a decade ago, was harrowing.
The MS Dhoni-led Indian side were pitted against Sri Lanka in the finals in Dhaka and were the favorites to win the title again. However, a memorable bowling display by the Lankans reduced India to a mere 130-4, still revisited as one of the most bizarre batting displays by an Indian side.
The opening pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma did not find much success against the new ball, with the former being dismissed in the second over itself. Rohit struggled to score 29 runs off 26 deliveries and the Men in Blue were struggling at 64-2 in the 11th over.
What followed was a controversial knock by Yuvraj Singh, where he scored only 11 runs off 21 deliveries while skipper MS Dhoni also did not find any success at the back end of the innings. Ace batter Virat Kohli played a lone hand and was run out off the final delivery of the innings after scoring 77 runs off 58 deliveries.
Sri Lanka chased down the target with more than two overs to spare to begin India's ICC trophy drought
A win in the final would have helped India hold all three ICC titles together after triumphing in the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. However, Sri Lanka kept their nerve to chase the score down.
Team India claimed the early breakthrough in the second innings by dismissing Kusal Perera in the second over. The final was well poised after Sri Lanka were down to 65-3 at the halfway mark, with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene playing decent knocks.
Senior batter Kumar Sangakkara anchored the run chase, scoring a fifty in the process to take the game away from India. A brute cameo by Kusal Perera became the difference as Sri Lanka wrapped up the chase in 17.5 overs and won the 2014 T20 World Cup.