Duke Jeyaraj
India beat South Africa in a nerve-wracking game to win the T20 World Cup 2024 for India in the West Indies on 29 June 2024.
South Africa needed 30 runs off 30 balls with two set, explosive, batsmen in the middle. Yet they lost. South Africa needed 27 runs off 30 balls with “if it is in the arc, it will out of the park” David Miller batting and “back-foot to top-row” serial six accumulator Heinrich Klassen batting. These two batsmen hit 6 out of the eight balls they effectively faced for boundaries (three fours and three sixes) from overs number 13.4 to 14.6 bowled by Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel. But yet India came back to win the match.
What was the reason? After a failure, the whole team did not give up.
Rohit Sharma got out cheaply when India batted first. BUT HE held a master class of how to choke the batsmen when set the field as captain from overs number 16 to 20 when South Africa could not score 30 runs off 30 balls.
Virat Kohli failed to get even a single 50, in the tournament till the Final. BUT HE held the Indian innings together with his knock of 76 which gave India a total which their bowlers a chance to defend.
Rishabh Pant got out for a duck. BUT HE masterminded the slowing of the South African innings pace. When Klassen and Miller were going hammer and tongs, he called for medical help (perhaps deliberately) after the 24-run Axar over. This perhaps affected Klassen’s concentration and he was out to the innocuous ball that Hardik bowled after that smartly-timed, concentration-collapsing injury break.
Surya Kumar Yadav did not bat that well. BUT HE took the best high pressure catch in the history of cricket when Miller’s shot almost went sailing over his head. His one-man almost-on-the-boundary-rope relay catch when South Africa needed 16 off 6 was a stuff of dreams.
Hardik Pandya faced just two balls when he batted – thanks to Virat Kohli’s inexplicable risk-free batting. He was expected to hit two boundaries out of those two balls. He managed just one boundary. BUT HE bowled with precision and calmness after consulting with his wise captain on what was expected of him. He dismissed Klassen. He defended 16 in the last over.
Have you failed? Have you blown it? Have you goof it all up? Are you in the gutter now? Don’t be discouraged. Bounce back, like these Indian players I have named. Your failed start does not match. You present flop does not matter. Spring back. Stand up again. And run again with gusto! Mark ran away naked when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus (Mark 14:51-52, Bible Scholars say that the unnamed man who ran was Mark). He lived in Jerusalem and wanted to watch what would happen to Jesus in Gethsemane when this embarrassing failure happened. Mark abandoned the ministry team of Paul during a missionary journey years later (Acts 13:5, 15:38). He perhaps felt homesick. He perhaps missed the comforts of his sprawling home – a home big enough to host church meetings in Jerusalem – during the tough missionary journey (see Acts 12:12). So, he quit Paul’s ministry team, obviously kindling the anger of the apostle. BUT HE still came back. Mark soon became such an invaluable team member of Apostle Paul that he wrote this from prison just before his death (supposedly): “Get Mark to me, for he is helpful to me in the ministry!” (2 Tim. 4:11).
Will there be a “But He” moment in your life? Will there be a “But She” moment in your life? With the grace of God enabling you, you can bounce back!
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