Twenty20 World Cup: India thrash New Zealand by 96 runs in final to become only team in T20 history to hold the trophy thrice, and win it back-to-back
When South Africa beat India by 111 runs, they showed the rest of the cricket world that this formidable Indian batting order is far from infallible. They have set a template that could work especially when India’s batsmen are indecisive. More importantly, they forced India to look in the mirror.
India saw a team that departed from the core values that brought it great success in the last two years, with the help of the video analyst who produced a video showing what the team looks like at its best. India was feeling the pressure of playing the World Cup at home and was hesitant.
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India’s batsmen are at their best when they play freely: their eyes are on the ball in front of them and they hit it as joyfully as possible. Doing this under the weight of expectations at a World Cup requires strength of mind, of course, but more importantly clarity of purpose.
Not every batsman in the team had to keep the big picture in mind – that was the job of the coach and the captain – but if they had just come out and done what they were best at, this team would have been irresistible.
It also helped that New Zealand were far from their tactical best in the final. The decision to leave out spinner Cole McConchie for seamer Jacob Duffy was as inexplicable as the International Cricket Council’s selection of Ricky Martin as the headliner for the big day. New Zealand’s repeated use of the short ball on a pitch that couldn’t have been made more suitable for batting had it been produced by a 3D printer spoke to the belief in batsmen clearing the ropes even with mis-hits.
In contrast, India was right on many issues. They kept their faith in Abhishek Sharma and despite being out of form, he scored an 18-ball half-century. India’s opening partnership was worth $98. They have struggled for starts throughout the tournament, but the South Africa game also helped rectify that by sidelining Sanju Samson.
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In three knockout matches Samson has scores of 97, 89 and 89. There will be those who see this as three missed opportunities to score a century, but the game has changed too much for personal milestones to come into the picture. Samson’s job was to blunt off-spin early and become a foil to Abhishek.
Samson realized that being the foil didn’t mean playing second fiddle. Samson brought composure to the top of the innings, but not at the expense of occupying the crease. Samson scored a quick goal and it was much the same in the final. Not a single chance was given, apart from a move towards offside that speared from the outside edge and sailed over the third man.
Samson’s stroke play was slow, but his clean shots slowed the heartbeats of his teammates and increased the anxiety in the opponent. If Samson was operating as if in a bubble, the others realized that they only had to be true to themselves to serve the team’s purpose.
With a buccaneer swagger, Ishan Kishan spent his time at the crease like a cheeky teenager determined to foil the opposition bowlers’ best-laid plans. He came out punching rather than swinging wildly, and the finesse of his first innings in the final ensured the momentum stayed with India. He made 54 off just 25 and took three wickets in an action-packed 16th match.
Against the run of play, Jimmy Neeshan bowled Samson, Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav by just one run. It was a glimpse into New Zealand’s now famous refusal to give up, even when the situation was on the verge of becoming untenable. But the stutter came when India already had 203 on the board, and the always impressive Shivam Dube (26 from 8) used his long wicket and cool heading to great effect to take India to 255.
Jacob Bethell’s England trounced India with a similar scoreline, but the chances of a repeat were slim. In the semi-finals, India needed to dig deep and draw inspiration from their fielding. All the bowlers had to do that day was to stick to their plan and keep the faith. They did it with confidence, even though Tim Seifert (52) was using great weapons.
With each passing wicket and wicket falling, the number of miracles New Zealand needed to match it continued to increase and India marched steadily towards victory. At the center of this was Jasprit Bumrah, who did Bumrah stuff and finished with an out-of-this-world figure of 4-0-15-4.
This is where Rohit Sharma’s India’s hearts broke in the 50-over World Cup final in 2023. Batting first that November evening, India barely made 240 and saw themselves wiped out in quick succession by a blitzkrieg of 137 from Travis Head. This loss hurt deeply and only one batsman from the 50-over team was still around in this 20-over unit to exorcise these ghosts. Unable to make a run, Surya’s first action at the crease was an assertive angled shot from ground to leg, well caught in the deep.
But Surya had set things up so well in this unit that they scored 15 more runs (20 overs) in 2026 than they did 50 runs in 2024. It’s a reflection of not only how much the game has changed, but also how far the team has come in three short years. They’ll get some beatings from now on.
