South Africa’s unbeaten run to the final of the T20 World Cup was ended on Saturday by India which also ended their 13-year wait for a world title.

In the thrilling final match in Barbados, India fought back gallantly to beat the Proteas who needed 26 from 24 balls in pursuit of 177, but the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen for 52 from 27 swung a dramatic game in India’s favour.

The game looked done during Klaasen’s onslaught but Hardik removed him by finding a thin edge through to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

Even as Klaasen slumped off, South Africa remained favourites.

The win was India’s second T20 title, having won the inaugural tournament in 2007, and first World Cup win in either format since the 2011 50-over competition.

And for South Africa, it was a horrible defeat that brought back all the pain of World Cups past after breezing through to the final without losing a single match.

India had so much in their favour, a team of superstars chosen from population of 1.4 billion and the largest proportion of the revenue generated in the game.

The Proteas, like India, had progressed to this point unbeaten and had come through a series of tight games and their semi-final win against Afghanistan was their first victory in the last four of a World Cup in eight attempts.

Arshdeep Singh conceded only four from the penultimate over, leaving Hardik Pandya to defend 16 from the last, while David Miller was sensationally caught by Suryakumar Yadav at long-off for 21 from the first ball before India closed out a seven-run win.

It sparked jubilant scenes among the India players and fans in Barbados, including superstar Virat Kohli, who dragged his side to 176-7 with 76 off 59.

The final result left Hardik was in tears as he was part of the Indian side that lost the 50-over World Cup final to Australia on home soil eight months ago.

In the end, up against some superb bowling from Jasprit Bumrah, who took 2-18 in a high-scoring game, they faltered again at the last.

In the final moments, Kagiso Rabada edged a four and Hardik bowled a wide, leaving eight needed from the last two balls before Radaba was caught at long-off.

Nigeria’s brightest chance of picking a medal at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics was rekindled after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cleared 100m hurdles world record holder, Tobi Amusan, of a doping charge brought against her by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

With the clearance and dismissal of the appeal by AIU on Friday, Amusan is now free to run in the Paris Olympics.

Amusan was charged by the AIU in July 2023 with missing three anti-doping tests in 12 months but was cleared of the offence by the Disciplinary Tribunal of the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.

Following the decision of the Disciplinary Tribunal, World Athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision.

In clearing Amusan, CAS said in a statement that its panel unanimously acknowledged that the athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within 12 months.

The 27-year-old Amusan is the current 100m hurdles world record holder in a time of 12.12 seconds she set at the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July 2022 and went on to win the title.