‘Mast Actor Kar Raha, Rohit Bhai’: Rishabh Pant reveals the real story behind his ‘fake injury’ in the T20 World Cup final

Days after India captain Rohit Sharma revealed that Rishabh Pant had “faked” a knee injury to slow the momentum of South Africa’s chase in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados, the wicketkeeper-batsman spoke about what happened on that fateful day actually took place in June of this year.

Speaking on The Great Indian Kapil Show, Rohit recalled the moment when South Africa were in absolute control of the chase, needing just 26 runs from the last 24 balls and well placed Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller at the crease. But just as the Indian captain was preparing the pitch for the next over and chatting with bowler Hardik Pandya, he noticed Pant lying on the ground and being attended to by the team’s physiotherapist.

Rohit felt that Pant’s injury maneuver, which led to a brief delay in the game, was instrumental in slowing South Africa’s momentum. And while he didn’t blame that moment entirely for India’s title win, he did acknowledge Pant’s wisdom.

Now Pant said that he actually acted with the idea of ​​doing something to stop the carnage caused by Klaasen’s thugs.

Pant reacts to ‘fake injury’ incident in T20 World Cup final

“I was actually thinking about what to do because the momentum suddenly changed (in South Africa’s favour), they scored a lot of runs in 2-3 overs, so I was thinking about when the moment will come We will play the World Cup final,” Pant said on a Star Sports show.

The video of the incident was shown on the big screen while Pant narrated the story. The 25-year-old said he asked the physiotherapist to take his time. When captain Rohit wanted to know if Pant’s knee was fine, he told him that he was just playing.

“I asked the physiotherapist to take his time. When Rohit Bhai asked if my knee was fine, I said, ‘Bhaiya masturbating kar raha tha‘ (I played all the time). Sometimes you have to do things like this in games. I’m not saying it works every time, but it works sometimes, and if it works in that moment, then there’s nothing like it.”

The momentum of the game turned in India’s favor from matchday 17 onwards. Hardik dismissed Klaasen and then Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Marco Jansen with an in-swinger that would knock most of the top batters out of the game. Hardik and Arshdeep Singh slowed down at the other end as India smothered South Africa and won the match by 7 runs. The victory ended India’s 13-year quest for a World Cup title.

It was Pant’s first ICC tournament since his return from a long injury layoff.