CHAMPIONS! India’s Cup Of Joy Overflows In Historic Title
Speedster Jasprit Bumrah and left-arm spinner Axar Patel were the standout bowlers for India. Boom broke the opposition’s back with 4 for 15 from his four overs while ‘Bapu’ baffled them with figures of 3 for 27.
Ahmedabad: Team India made history by defending their T20 World Cup title with a crushing victory over New Zealand in a one-sided final at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on a blissful Sunday night.
Chasing the hosts’ mammoth 255 for 5, the Kiwis were never in the game. They lost three wickets inside the Powerplay and two more by the half-way stage with not much on the board to delay the inevitable. They eventually folded at 159 with an over to spare.
Speedster Jasprit Bumrah and left-arm spinner Axar Patel were the standout bowlers for India. Boom broke the opposition’s back with 4 for 15 from his four overs while ‘Bapu’ baffled them with figures of 3 for 27.
Ishan Kishan followed up his half-ton with three fine catches in the deep to put India head and shoulders above their rivals.
Earlier at the toss, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner called ‘tails’ right and made a headless decision to field first in a pressure game.
India’s tough total was built on half-centuries from the top three and a cameo by Shivam Dube (26 in 8 balls) towards the end. Sanju Samson continued his brilliant run to hit an energetic 89, his third successive near-century after scoring 97 not out against the West Indies in the last Super Eight game and 89 versus England in the semifinal.
His opening partner Abhishek Sharma regained his mojo with a fine 52 as the two got India off to a flyer. Ishan Kishan then crunched 54 in just 25 balls to keep the wheels turning.
The start was cautious. After four quiet balls, Samson sent fast bowler Matt Henry out of the ground for the first runs of the game — six. The score picked up pace in the third over as Jacob Duffy was taken for 15 runs. Lockie Ferguson came in next and went for 24 in the fourth over as both Samson and Abhishek hit him for a boundary and six each. The latter began to get into his groove.
The fifth and sixth overs too yielded 21 and 20 runs respectively as India rocketed to 92 for no loss, the highest Powerplay score in a T20 World Cup game. West Indies too had got the same number of runs, against Afghanistan in the 2024 edition.
Having warmed up, the Blues switched gears, upped the tempo and began to drive the bowlers around. Sixes and fours flowed regularly even as Abhishek departed after his whirlwind 21-ball innings which included six fours and three sixes.
Samson and Kishan then put on a stormy stand of 105 runs for the second wicket in only 48 balls. They treated the bowlers with disdain, slamming a series of boundaries. Samson was particularly harsh on left-arm spinner Rachin Ravindra, hitting him for three consecutive sixes in the 14th over as the Kiwis looked lost.
Jimmy Neesham then got them a brief foothold by striking thrice in the 16th over to dismiss Samson, Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav — the Indian captain for a first-ball duck — while conceding only one run. Samson fell to a catch by substitute fielder Cole McConchie to end his 46-ball knock that contained five fours and eight sixes.
Things slowed down a bit after that as overs 17 and 18 fetched only 7 and 9 runs respectively. India took 11 off the penultimate over before Dube thumped two sixes and three boundaries to snatch 24 from the last over bowled by Neesham.
