India crush New Zealand in the men’s T20 World Cup final, to become the first team to retain the title, at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Put into bat first, they capitalised on a 98-run opening stand between Sanju Samson (89) and Abhishek Sharma (52) to rack up 255-5, with number three, Ishan Kishan, smashing 54. But James Neesham bowled a three-wicket over to apply the brakes on the favourite's scoring rate towards the end of the innings.
Chasing such a daunting target, New Zealand could not recover from a top-order collapse and were all out for 159 in 19 overs despite defiant knocks by Tim Seifert (52) and Mitchell Santner (43). With India posting a score of 255-5 in the allocated 20 overs, it was Samson’s 89 off 46 balls, Kishan’s 54 off 25 balls and Abhishek’s 52 from 21 balls which saw them through comfortably, with the Black Cap’s Jimmy Neesham claiming 3 wickets from 46 balls bowled.
In a fast-forwarded display of power-hitting, Sanju Samson put on 105 in a stunning second wicket with Ishan Kishan, who hit 54 from 25 balls. But Neesham broke the pairing, removing both batters and India captain Suryakumar Yadav inside the 16th over to offer New Zealand a crumb of hope.
As the luckless nearly-men of world cricket, for New Zealand, it was a familiar tale of late woe in what was their fifth final across ICC events since they first broke their semi-final hoodoo in 2015. But this was the most emphatic beating of the lot. A jubilant Player of the Match, Jasprit Bumrah, said: "This felt special because I played one final at my home venue [against Australia in 2023] and couldn't win that one.
“I was really motivated today and used all my experience on a flat wicket. It went exactly as planned.
"I couldn't be happier and it was special to win ‘Player of the Match’ in the World Cup final on my home ground." With India becoming the first team to retain their title in T20 World Cup history, and give Ahmedabad the home coronation that had eluded them against their previous Antipodean opponents, Australia, at the 50-over World Cup in 2023, their was never going to be any doubt who the eventual winners of this latest ICC T20 global edition was going to be.
