TimesofIndia.com in Ahmedabad: Since that thrilling night at the Narendra Modi Stadium on November 19, 2023, India has won the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, but the feeling of incompleteness persists due to the heartbreak of the 50-over World Cup final.
The unforgettable past is remembered in the 2026 championship game at the same venue. Even though Suryakumar Yadav has not lost a series since taking charge in 2024, people are still wary of the World Cup hype. In the finals, the team carrying one billion hopes in 2026 and one billion heartbreaks in 2023 delivered. And delivered with aplomb!
The dominant Indian team completely defeated New Zealand in a resounding victory, becoming the only T20I team in history to win two consecutive World Cups and the first team to win the title at home. The much-anticipated title clash turned out to be an uncontested affair, with Suryakumar Yadav and his team calmly owning the night, the occasion and the game to add another ICC trophy to their cabinet. It was coach Gautam Gambhir’s second title in charge, completing an entertaining and dominant two-year cycle leading up to the big night in Ahmedabad.
New Zealand, despite chasing a stunning score of 256, never really got anywhere. Maybe it’s the noise. Maybe it’s the Indian bowling unit, but apart from Tim Seifert (52) and captain Mitchell Santner (43), no other batsman has played for the BlackCaps. Santner had hoped to replicate the Pat Cummins side of three years ago but ended up lackluster.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah took 4/15 and was on the verge of scoring a hat-trick. Axar Patel took three wickets; Hardik Pandya, Varun Chakaravarthy and Abhishek Sharma took one each. Only Arshdeep Singh, who grabbed the headlines for his unnecessary attack on Daryl Mitchell, did not take a wicket.
Sometimes one shot is all it takes to get a player back into form, but for India, Rocky Ferguson’s off-ball in the powerplay opened the floodgates and set the tone for the rest of the innings. The edge flies in unexpected directions, but achieves the desired result. The New Zealand speedster tried to overcompensate with a length error but was met with scorn. Control was not his strongest point in the fourth over, which resulted in 24 runs and his first 50-run start in a T20 World Cup final since 2009.
India openers Sanju Samson (89 off 46 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (52 off 21 balls) scored 98 runs in just 43 balls after New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner won and elected to field at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The first game set the tone for India as they posted 255 for 5.
Abhishek Sharma didn’t have complete control, but he had some luck and either made enough connections or found the right spots. The outfielders had a few chances, but it was “just enough” for the power play. The spin of just one ball in the powerplay proved to be a tactical error for the Black Caps, with both Sanju Samson and Abhishek bowling some very average bowling to post 92/0, the highest score in a powerplay game in the history of the tournament. Although the two had different levels of possession, they easily found and penetrated the boundary, giving the team an ominous start.
The only time India seemed happy to stop some deliveries in the first two games was when the defensive restrictions were in effect, as when Jacob Duffy stepped into the attack, absolute carnage unfolded. After the score was 12/0 at the end of the second round, the openers scored 80 runs in the next four overs. Abhishek continued to bat in the same outfit, the way he had aspired to do in the run-up to the title clash, and reached the fastest half-century of the tournament in just 18 balls. Head coach Gautam Gambhir’s warm embrace during the drinks break showed that the dressing room was always behind him, celebrating his brilliant performance under pressure.
Abhishek departed soon after scoring his half-century, while Samson continued his usual pristine form to complete his third consecutive half-century in the tournament. Shot selection, clean connections and effortless precision with the ball kept the New Zealand bowlers ducking under cover. Neither Samson nor the next batsman Ishan Kishan (54 off 25 balls) let the momentum slip and together they scored 105 runs in 48 balls to put New Zealand on the mat.
From the moment he stepped out to bat, Ishan looked possessed and immediately found his groove, just like he has been doing for the past few months. India once again put in a formidable display with the bat, with muscle, grace and plenty of runs. This dangerous team had been expecting something like this before the tournament started, but it finally happened when it mattered most, in the Super 8s, semi-finals and now the final.
Samson’s 46-ball 89 and Kishan’s 25-ball 54 were just the kind of contributions India needed at the highest level in this batting paradise, aided by listless bowling. James Neesham briefly applied the brakes for the third ball, but Shivam Dube (26 not out from 8 balls) was ready to play another influential hand, pushing the total past 250, well beyond the New Zealander’s reach.
The 256-over chase required the Kiwis not just to fly, but to soar. They have plenty of firepower in their ranks, but a big game, a comprehensive Indian bowling attack and more than 85,000 fans behind the defending champions means this will not be a repeat of the semi-final dominance at Eden Gardens. The power play is key in these intense chases, and India thrived in the first six overs, breaking the backs of their opponents before they could gain momentum in the run chase.
It could have been worse had Shivam Dube not interrupted Arshdeep Singh’s celebrations by knocking out the bowling sitter, but the combined brilliance of left-arm bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel reduced the opposition to just 52/3.
Brief score:
India: 255 runs from 5 balls in 20 overs. (Sanju Samson 89, Ishan Kishan 54, Abhishek Sharma 52; James Neesham 3/46).
New Zealand: All 159 were eliminated in the 19th over. (Tim Seifert 52, J Bumrah 4/15, Axar Patel 3/23).
