Bumrah leads T20WC anniversary bash in Birmingham; Pant teases Jadeja on ‘1-year’ milestone, gets knockout response
One year on from the famous victory at the T20 World Cup final in Barbados, India has been reliving that incredible night and celebrating all across the world after ending a long and painful drought of no trophies. When Suryakumar Yadav completed that iconic catch on the long-off boundary and ensured India were once again ICC trophy winners, a generation of cricketers breathed easy for finally having secured silverware — and they were together again one year later, on June 29 2025, as key members from that winning team cut a pair of cakes to commemorate the moment while in Birmingham.
In a video shared by the BCCI on social media, select members of India’s touring party in England can be seen gathered in a restaurant in Birmingham, where the team prepares for the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Edgbaston. Before the serious stuff starts on July 2, however, this was a nice moment for key players to look back at where they were a year ago while sharing a celebration of the moment with each other.
The Indian team honoured the moment with two different cakes, one reading ‘Team India’, the other reading ‘Champions T20 WC 2024’. No player looked ready to be the one to take the responsibility and cut the cake, with the likes of Rishabh Pant, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Siraj urging each other to be the one.
‘Paaji, kaato na…’
Ultimately, it was Jasprit Bumrah who stood up and took the responsibility — just like he did a year ago, bowling two crucial overs that turned the tide of a game that was heavily in South Africa’s favour with the Proteas needing run-a-ball from the last five overs to win. Bumrah stepped forward to cut one cake, while Siraj did his duties for the other, after their younger battery-mate Arshdeep urged them by saying “Paaji, kaato na (cut it no.)”
Pant also teased Ravindra Jadeja by reminding him they were also celebrating the one-year anniversary of his retirement from the T20 format, with the all-rounder having joined Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in calling it a day in the shortest format after that finals victory. Jadeja was sharp to retort, however, reminding his younger teammates that he was still around in the other two formats.
The players then went on to feed each other bites of the cake in a really nice moment which encapsulated why this was such an important period of time: after years of coming close but not quite getting over the finish line, this Indian team had managed to get the albatross off its back by lifting the trophy.
Whether this heartfelt team moment can be the base for India to bounce back after an opening loss in the English series remains to be seen.