Bridgetown, BARBADOS: India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat in the final of the T20 World Cup against South Africa at the Kensington Oval on Saturday.
The toss was held in bright sunshine and with a gusty wind blowing across the 28,000 capacity venue which is expected to be sold out for the game.
Rohit and his South African counterpart Aiden Markram both named unchanged line-ups from the teams which won their respective semifinals.
The possibility of stormy weather over the weekend, with some rain forecast for Saturday, had raised concerns among organizers but as early arrivals began taking their seats there was no sign of rain.
The final concludes a near month-long tournament, held in the USA and the Caribbean and features two teams who have yet to lose in the competition.
The event which has been a mixed bag in terms of quality, entertainment and attendances has certainly succeeded in setting up a final between the two best teams in the shortest format.
India crushed defending champions England by 68 runs in Guyana on Thursday, the day after South Africa thrashed Afghanistan by nine wickets in Trinidad to end a long and agonizing wait for a title game.
Since their first appearance at a World Cup in 1992, following the end of apartheid, South Africa had lost seven semifinals in the two limited overs formats.
This will be South Africa’s first senior men’s final since the inaugural Champions Trophy in Bangladesh in 1998 when the Proteas beat the West Indies.
India experienced the double disappointment last year of defeat in the World Test Championship final and the 50-over World Cup — losing both to Australia.
The country which more than any other popularised the shortest form with the hugely successful Indian Premier League now stands on the brink of their second T20 World Cup title and first since the inaugural edition in 2007.
India win toss and bat in T20 World Cup final against South Africa
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India win toss and bat in T20 World Cup final against South Africa
- India crushed defending champions England by 68 runs in Guyana on Thursday
- A day before that, South Africa thrashed Afghanistan by nine wickets in Trinidad
Pakistan condemns Sudan attack that killed Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers, calls it war crime
- Six peacekeepers were killed in a drone strike in Kadugli as fighting between Sudan’s army and the RSF grinds on
- Pakistan, a major troop contributor to the UN, says perpetrators of the attack must be identified, brought to justice
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday extended condolences to the government and people of Bangladesh after six United Nations peacekeepers from the country were killed in a drone strike in southern Sudan, condemning the attack and describing it as a war crime.
The attack took place amid a full-scale internal conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group, following a power struggle after the collapse of Sudan’s post-Bashir political transition.
Omar Al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for nearly three decades, was ousted by the military in 2019 after months of mass protests, but efforts to transition to civilian rule later faltered, plunging the country back into violence that has since spread nationwide.
The drone strike hit a logistics base of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, on Saturday, killing the Bangladeshi peacekeepers. Sudan’s army blamed the RSF for the attack, though there was no immediate public claim of responsibility.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the attack on @UNISFA in Kadugli, resulting in the tragic loss of 6 Bangladeshi peacekeepers & injuries to several others,” the country’s permanent mission to the UN said in a social media message. “We honor their supreme sacrifice in the service of peace, and express our deepest condolences to the government and people of #Bangladesh.”
“Such heinous attacks on UN peacekeepers amount to war crimes,” it added. “Perpetrators of this horrific attack must be identified and brought to justice. As a major troop-contributing country, we stand in complete solidarity with all Blue Helmets serving the cause of peace in the perilous conditions worldwide.”
According to Pakistan’s UN mission in July, the country has deployed more than 235,000 peacekeepers to 48 UN missions across four continents over the past eight decades.
Pakistan also hosts one of the UN’s oldest peacekeeping operations, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), and is a founding member of the UN Peacebuilding Commission.
More than 180 Pakistani peacekeepers have lost their lives while serving under the UN flag.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have also been working in recent months to ease decades of strained ties rooted in the events of 1971, when Bangladesh — formerly part of Pakistan — became independent following a bloody war.
Relations have begun to shift following the ouster of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year amid mass protests.
Hasina later fled to India, Pakistan’s neighbor and arch-rival, creating space for Islamabad and Dhaka to rebuild their relationship.
