South African great gives verdict on Suryakumar Yadav’s crucial catch

Former South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock reacted to the controversy around the crucial catch completed by Suryakumar Yadav in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024.

With South Africa needing 16 in the last over, David Miller was on strike facing Hardik Pandya in the ultimate game of the marquee event.

Pandya delivered a full toss on the very first delivery of the 20th over that Miller launched towards the long-off boundary.

However, Suryakumar Yadav caught the ball centimeters from the boundary line, jumped outside the boundary cushion before throwing the ball up, re-entered the field and completed the catch.

The catch was then referred to the third umpire who decided that it was a fair catch as David Miller failed to finish the game for South Africa.

The Rohit Sharma-led India secured a seven-run victory to lift the T20 World Cup trophy for the second time, having won the inaugural edition in 2007.

Following the match, several suggested that the boundary cushion had been moved back and Yadav had stepped on the mark where the cushion should have been.

 

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However, South African great Shaun Pollock shut down such conspiracy theories, saying that Suryakumar Yadav had nothing to do with cushion being moved.

“The catch was fine. The cushion had moved, but that’s in the course of the game. It had nothing to do with Surya. He didn’t stand on the cushion. Brilliant bit of skill,” he added.

India on June 29 ended its 11-year global title drought as they beat South Africa by seven runs to become T20 World Cup 2024 Champions at Kensington Oval.

The Rohit Sharma-led side, who lost in the finals of the World Test Championship and the 50-overs home World Cup last year, managed to book South Africa at 169/8, defeating the Proteas by seven runs.

This was South Africa’s first senior men’s final since the inaugural Champions Trophy in Bangladesh in 1998, having lost seven semi-finals, including a gut-wrenching defeat against Australia in the 1999 World Cup.