The International Cricket Council (ICC) released a video of the best catches taken by across teams in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup 2024, hosted by the USA and West Indies. The likes of Mitchell Starc, Suryakumar Yadav, Gulbadin Naib, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Mohammed Siraj, Noor Ahmad, Aiden Markram, Maheesh Theekshana, and others took some of the outstanding catches in the competition.
Suryakumar Yadav's catch has been touted by many as the best, given the circumstance of the game and the awareness the 33-year-old showed during the situation. It was the catch to dismiss David Miller, who tried to hit a full-toss from Hardik Pandya straight down the ground. Suryakumar swooped in to take the catch and tossed it inside the rope before taking it again.
With David Miller out, India defended 16 off the last 5 balls to win their 2nd T20 World Cup crown.
"I knew it was a fair catch" - Suryakumar Yadav
With the legitimacy of the catch coming under doubt, the Mumbai-born cricketer asserted that he knew it was a fair catch and that India would've been in trouble had it gone for six. He explained during an interview with the Indian Express:
"When I pushed the ball [up and inside the playing area] and took the catch, I knew I hadn't touched the rope. The only thing I was cautious about was that when I pushed the ball back inside, my feet don't touch the rope. I knew it was a fair catch. In hindsight, anything could have happened. If the ball had gone for six, the equation would have been five balls, ten runs. We might have still won, but the margin would have been closer."
In the process, India became the 1st team to win the trophy without losing a match.
