India thrash New Zealand in final to retain T20 World Cup title

2026-03-08 - 17:33

India thrashed New Zealand by a huge margin of 96 runs in the final at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday to become the first team to retain the T20 World Cup title. Chasing a mammoth 256-run target for victory, New Zealand kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were bundled out for 159 on the last ball of the penultimate over. Wicket-keeper batter Tim Seifert was the highest scorer for Black Caps, who scored 52 off just 26 balls, hitting two fours and five maximums. Skipper Mitchell Santner made 43 off 35 balls, laced with three fours and two maximums. Daryl Mitchell contributed 17 off 11 balls with the help of two maximums. No other batter could enter the double figures. Player of the final Jasprit Bumrah bagged four wickets and Axar Patel three, while Hardik Pandya, Varun Chakravarthy and Abhishek Sharma got one wicket apiece. After being asked to bat first by New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner, India marched to a mammoth total of 255/5 in their quota of 20 overs. Like the previous two games, wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson was the top scorer for India with 89 off just 46 balls, hitting five fours and eight maximums. Ishan Kishan contributed 54 off 25 balls, laced with four fours and as many maximums. Opening batter Abhishek Sharma made 52 off 21 balls with the help of six fours and three maximums. Shivam Dube made an unbeaten 26 off just eight balls, and Hardik Pandya 18 off 13 balls. James Neesham bagged three wickets while Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra picked up one wicket each. India Playing XI: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah New Zealand Playing XI: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (capt), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Luckie Ferguson