India’s Roller-Coaster T20 Triumph: A Decade-Long Wait Ends with Celebrations at Kensington Oval

The triumphant Indian team’s celebrations at the Kensington Oval lasted close to four hours after a roller-coaster T20 World Cup final. The players grooved to their favorite dance numbers and the usually reserved outgoing coach, Rahul Dravid, let his hair down amid a general sense of relief for ending a lengthy title drought. The euphoria continued at the team hotel, but before that, at the historic venue, skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Dravid let their emotions take control after a grueling month-long campaign in the Caribbean and USA. It was the end of a decade-long wait that had its fair share of tears and frustrations. Dravid, an undisputed great of the game who could not win a World Cup in his long playing career, usually does well to guard what’s going on inside him. But on Saturday, in a rather animated display of emotions, Dravid pumped his fists while joining his players on the ground, who watched in amusement as a rarely seen side of the Bengaluru-man went on display for the world. Kohli, an antithesis to Dravid’s personality, heaved a massive sigh of relief when India’s win was sealed on the penultimate ball of the game with Kagiso Rabada being caught at long-off.