Faf du Plessis embodies Rohit Sharma's iconic T20 World Cup moment as Saint Lucia Kings clinch CPL 2024 under Preity Zinta's ownership

At one point, Saint Lucia found themselves in a tough spot at 51 for 4 on the tricky Providence track. They had gone nine overs without scoring a boundary in their pursuit of 139 runs. Roston Chase was battling illness and Aaron Jones, who had made a name for himself with a stellar performance for the USA in the T20 World Cup, was struggling to find his form. It got to a point where Sammy contemplated replacing Jones, but he decided to give him one final opportunity. With 65 runs required off the last 30 balls, Jones stepped up and changed the game around.

From scoring just 10 runs in the first 19 deliveries, Jones roared to 38 in the next 12 balls, en route to an 88-run unbeaten stand alongside Chase, which helped the Kings wrap up the chase with 11 balls to spare.

Following the win, captain Faf du Plessis, stunningly imitated India captain Rohit Sharma's famous celebration walk from the T20 World Cup title win in June, videos of which went viral. Rohit, in turn, had looked to mimic Argentina football legend Lionel Messi's act during the FIFA World Cup win in 2022, but fans reckoned and so did that WWE legend, that it looked more like a Ric Flair strut.

Du Plessis was visibly ecstatic after guiding Saint Lucia to their maiden CPL title win and emphasised on the significance of the victory for the franchise.

“This franchise has been looking to get that trophy for a long time. Against this opposition, in front of a big crowd—there's no bigger place to play a final,” du Plessis said in the post-match presentation. “I would have liked it a bit easier, to be honest!”

The former South Africa captain also hailed the Kings bowling line-up after they restricted Guyana to 138 for eight. He said: “I was very happy with the bowling. It was a decent decision [at the toss]. We were very positive to get that score. In our minds, we wanted to play very positively.”