As the Indian cricket team won the T20 World Cup 2024, beating South Africa in the final, the Player of the Match award went to Virat Kohli. His 59-ball 76 took India to a defendable total of 176, chasing which, the Proteas fell short of 7 runs. Despite Kohli’s knock proving to be instrumental in India’s victory in the final, there are some who feel he shouldn’t have been given the Player of the Match award. In fact, former India opener Wasim Jaffer feels Kohli wasn’t even the team’s most important batter in the final.

For Jaffer, who was an opening batter for India himself, Axar Patel takes the No. 1 spot in the list of batters whose contributions won the team the match in the final against South Africa.

“Virat Kohli hadn’t scored many runs in the tournament, but he chose the right moment to come good. Cometh the hour, cometh the man as we say, his knock of 76 made a lot of difference and kept one end intact,” Jaffer said on his YouTube channel.

“The most important part I thought was played by Axar Patel. The cameo that he played ensured that the run rate from India never dropped below eight runs per over. He took the attack to the South African bowlers and didn’t let them settle, forming a crucial partnership with Kohli,” he added.

Jaffer concluded the video by paying tributes to India’s two icons – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – admitting that their exit will create a big gap in the team.

“Two giants of the game (Rohit and Kohli) have retired from T20Is and this will certainly form a big gap. However, they rightly chose to go out on a high after winning the trophy and we should bow down to the true greats of the game. We will continue to see them in IPL, ODIs and Tests,” Jaffer asserted.