ICC T20 World Cup: India Create History
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2026-03-08 17:35:18
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
View all posts by this Author
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner, perhaps buoyed by his team's magnificent and one-sided victory over the seemingly invincible South Africans in the semifinals, had declared before the final that his team would "silence" the home crowd in Ahmedabad. Instead, it was India who silenced the New Zealanders with a commanding all-round display, winning the match by 96 runs.
The victory produced a string of records. India became the first team to win the T20 World Cup three times; it also became the first team to win the tournament on home soil and, most importantly, the first to successfully defend the title.
Put in to bat, India piled up a mammoth 255 for 5. Sanju Samson (89 off 46) continued the awesome form he had displayed throughout the tournament. Abhishek Sharma (52 off 21) returned to form in the biggest match of the competition, proving the skeptics wrong - including this writer, who had advocated removing him from the side. Alongside him, Ishan Kishan (54 off 25) provided a blazing start.
India raced to 92 runs in the powerplay, a burst that ultimately proved decisive. Even though India lost three wickets in one over, a last-over flourish by Shivam Dube (26 off just 8 balls) ensured that the total became the highest ever recorded in a T20 World Cup final.
New Zealand never really recovered from a poor start. They lost Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips during the powerplay and managed only 52 runs in the first six overs. Though Tim Seifert showed glimpses of the strokeplay that has made him one of the highest scorers of the tournament, the required rate kept climbing steadily and New Zealand were never truly in the contest. Towards the end, Santner played a spirited knock but it was simply not New Zealand's day.
For India, Axar Patel (3 for 27) bowled a fine spell, but it was Jasprit Bumrah (4 for just 15) who decisively broke the back of the New Zealand batting. Ishan Kishan also stood out in the field, taking two outstanding catches and coming close to pulling off a third.
India thoroughly deserved the victory. Their only blemish in an otherwise flawless campaign was the loss to South Africa earlier in the tournament. Suryakumar Yadav's captaincy also deserves special mention. His bowling changes, field placements and tactical adjustments in the batting order were spot on.
It was a performance worthy of champions - and on this occasion, the crowd in Ahmedabad had plenty to cheer about.
