India beat SA to win T20 World Cup, nail-biting final draws 53 million concurrent viewers

India defeated South Africa on Saturday to lift its second ICC T20 World Cup title, in a nail-biting contest that witnessed concurrent viewership peaking to 53 million viewers on Disney+ Hotstar.

Disney+ Hotstar was streaming the contest in HD quality for its paid subscribers, whereas unsubscribed users were allowed to watch without any charge in a relatively lower video quality.

The concurrent viewership was close to the record high of 59 million viewers who tuned into Disney+ Hotstar for the final of the 50-over World Cup, played between India and Australia on November 23, 2023.

The concurrent viewership of 53 million, as recorded during the India vs South Africa T20 WC final, is the same as what was seen during the India vs New Zealand semi-final played during the 50-over WC in November last year.

The prize money

As the winner of the tournament, the Indian team bagged a reward of $2.45 million, which is equivalent to ₹19.95 crore.

South Africa, as the first runner-up, received a prize money of $1.28 million, which amounts to around ₹10.64 crore

India's 2nd T20 WC win

India, which won the inaugural T20 WC in 2007, had to wait for 17 years to lift the trophy again.

The Rohit Sharma-led side faced an in-form South Africa in the high-stake final played on Saturday in Barbados.

Batting first, India posted a total of 176/7 in 20 overs, with star batter Virat Kohli shining with his inning of 76 runs in 59 balls. Keshav Maharaj was the pick among South African bowlers, returning with figures of 2/23.

The Proteas, while chasing the target, lost two wickets within the first powerplay. However, a counter-attack by wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock (39) and Henrich Klassen (52) brought them right back into the game.

The equations titled in favour of South Africa, as the team needed only 30 runs from 30 balls on a flat track. However, all-rounder Hardik Pandya struck in the 16th over with the crucial wicket of Klassen.

Thereafter, the Proteas slipped behind the required run-rate, and ended up needing 16 runs off the 20th over. However, they could score only 8 runs in the final over, ending the score at 169/8.

With this 7-run victory, India maintained its unbeaten record in this tournament.

Virat Kohli confirmed that this was his last T20 international match (Image: PTI)

Kohli announces retirement from T20 cricket

Kohli, who was awarded with the man of the match title for the crucial knock of 76 runs, made the surprise announcement of his retirement from international T20 cricket.

"This was my last T20 World Cup, this is exactly what we wanted to achieve...Time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward," Kohli said in the post-match interaction.

The 35-year-old has featured in 125 T20 international matches, scoring a total of 4,188 runs at an average of 48.69. This includes one hundred and 38 half-centuries.

Rohit Sharma retires from T20 cricket

After Kohli, India captain Rohit Sharma also announced in the post-match press conference that he is retiring from T20Is.

Rohit, who is only the third Indian captain to have won a World Cup after MS Dhoni (2007 and 2011) and Kapil Dev (1983), would continue to represent the country in ODIs and Tests.

"This was my last game as well. No better time to say goodbye. I wanted this (trophy) badly. It's very hard to put in words," he said, adding, "This what I wanted and it happened. I was very desperate for this in my life. Happy that we crossed the line this time".

With 4,231 runs in 159 T20Is, Rohit holds record for most centuries (five) in the format. He was also part of India's T20 World Cup triumph in 2007.