India, Sept. 22 -- India national cricket team came to Sano as the reigning world champions. Japan national cricket team came as an associate member, playing a Full Member nation for the first time. On paper, it was supposed to be a mismatch; by the final ball at the Sano International Cricket Ground, it had become something else. Rain reduced the historic one-off T20I to five overs a side, India scraped 32 for four, and Japan walked out needing 33. What followed was a 30-run statement from a side refusing to be overawed.

For India, the final margin read two runs. For Japan, it was the distance between defeat and cricketing folklore. Japan needed eight from the last six balls, then entered the final delivery needing four. There was also ...