How India clinched the T20 World Cup

India breathes cricket. On March 8, the nation erupted in joy after the Men in Blue thrashed New Zealand by 96 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for the second consecutive time. Few would have expected such an emphatic win for the home team. But on D-Day, the Men in Blue were a team on a mission. For Indian fans who watched the match — JioHotstar alone reported 74.5 crore views when it ended — the night could hardly have felt better.

India’s top-order trio — Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan — batted with fluency and occasional brutality to ensure a flying start. Sharma’s 52 silenced cynics who had questioned his inclusion after a series of failures. In-form Kishan struck 54, and Samson, who is at the top of his game, produced a brilliant 89. India suffered a brief jolt when three wickets fell in the 16th over, including those of Samson and Kishan. However, the final score of 255 for 5 in 20 overs proved too much for New Zealand, who struggled to reach 159 in 19 overs. The highlight of India’s bowling was Jasprit Bumrah’s spell of four for 15. Samson’s knock and Bumrah’s spell were the standout indicators of how well India played.

More from Opinion

CHALLENGES AND DOUBTS

The World Cup has been an event to remember, partly because India were the co-hosts along with Sri Lanka, and also because the team led by Suryakumar Yadav replicated the 2024 triumph of Team India, captained by Rohit Sharma. As the team journeyed to the final, it faced criticism too — over its fielding, particularly the 16 dropped catches, and over the perception that individual brilliance, rather than collective performance, was largely responsible for India’s wins in the tournament.

Criticism on the latter count gathered momentum after Yadav scored a brilliant unbeaten 84 to rescue India after six wickets had fallen for 77 against underdogs USA in a group-stage match. The Men in Blue eventually scored 161 for 9 and went on to beat the USA by 29 runs. Likewise, India needed Kishan’s sparkling 77 — along with some support from a few others — to reach 175 for 7 against so-called arch-rivals Pakistan, a match that it won by 61 runs in another group-stage encounter. Such instances gave rise to apprehensions that the team might not perform as a unit on the big day: the final. As it turned out, several players raised their hands when it mattered most, resulting in a one-sided win for the Men in Blue.

STRENGTHS OUTSHONE WEAKNESSES

Several old records were broken, and new ones were set on the day of the final. India became the first team to win a second consecutive T20 World Cup title, the first to win the trophy on home soil and the first to win it three times since the tournament’s inception in 2007. In recent years, the team’s high-risk, high-reward approach to batting — which has its critics — has clearly worked. Helped by the experience of playing in the Indian Premier League, blessed with depth in the batting order, along with a versatile bowling attack, the side has become adept at converting thrillers into victories.

In a format where a couple of good knocks (actually, one great knock) can guide a team to a competitive score and one or two good bowling spells can turn the tables in no time at all, Team India must consider it a blessing to have Bumrah, who used his arsenal of skills to telling effect. Bowling with an economy of 5.9 in the powerplay, which hovered around the same mark throughout to give him a final economy of 6.21, he was lethal almost every time he was called upon to bowl. That he picked up 14 wickets is testimony to his renowned wicket-taking ability, and the way in which he seemed to read the batsmen’s minds and leave them answerless was a sight to behold.

BATTING FIREPOWER

Nobody epitomised India’s deep reservoir of talent better than Samson, whose career has been a story of inclusions and exclusions. Not even in the playing eleven when the tournament started, Samson delivered three match-winning innings on the trot: 97 not out against the West Indies — the only Indian batting performance that mattered; 89, another classic, in the high-scoring semi-final against England; and 89 in the final. Driven by belief — and despite his encounters with self-doubt, as he himself confessed later — Samson’s hat-trick of gorgeous knocks proved to be the decisive factor in the knockout stages.

Comeback kid Kishan dazzled with the bat, making batting really easy to score superb half-centuries against Namibia, Pakistan and New Zealand. Importantly, Samson scored his runs with a strike rate of 199.37 and Kishan earned his numbers with the strike rate of 193.29, which proved crucial in a format where rapid scoring is a must.

Hardik Pandya did what he does best: spank the cricket ball, get quick runs and chip in with crucial wickets. His 217 runs and nine wickets underlined India’s good fortune in having a dependable seam-bowling all-rounder who is, without a shade of doubt, one of a kind in modern-day international cricket.

Shivam Dube’s economy of 14.12 for his five wickets was forgettable, but his impact must not be understated. With the bat, Dube scored 235 runs, including a 17-ball 27 against Pakistan, a 25-ball 43 in the semi-final and an eight-ball 26 in the final. His power hitting, in short, was exemplary. Tilak Varma did not produce a truly big knock, but he displayed his wealth of talent through his sheer range of strokes. Sharma, who had been out of form — a concern for his fans — returned to form on the big day against New Zealand. The result was a blazing start in the company of Samson, which played havoc with the morale of the opposition.

Skipper Yadav began with an inspiring knock against the USA and followed it with a string of modest scores, including three innings in the 30s, to finish with 242 runs. Yet he truly excelled as a leader, making astute bowling changes, setting intelligent fields for his bowlers and displaying his trademark calmness on the field. Moreover, he is loved and respected by his players — qualities that can prove invaluable in a team sport like cricket.

BOWLING ARSENAL

Axar Patel’s usually productive lower-order batting yielded few runs — hardly his fault — but he was superb with his accurate left-arm orthodox spin. Accustomed to flying under the radar, he finished with 11 wickets at an economy rate of 8.20. Arshdeep Singh once again showed why he is such a vital presence in the T20 squad, picking up nine wickets at an economy of 8.46.

There was a lot of talk around India’s precious mystery spinner, Varun Chakravarthy. Despite picking up 14 wickets, Chakravarthy lost his edge and leaked runs as the tournament progressed — his four-over spell of 1/64 against England could have cost India the match — but the team did not drop him for the final. Head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Yadav instead retained the winning unit. While Chakravarthy did not make an impact in the final either, the confidence-building measure reflected in his inclusion might help him in the long run.

As rivals wonder why India has proved almost impossible to beat in T20s, the strength of the squad can best be understood in the context of seamer Mohammed Siraj and wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who featured in the playing eleven for only one match each in the entire tournament. Both Siraj and Kuldeep could have walked into the playing eleven of most other leading teams, but finding places for them in Team India was impossible in the current scheme of affairs.

ONE BAD DAY

India won a couple of close encounters, one of them the critical Super Eights clash against the West Indies and the other the semifinal against England. But the only day the team seemed out of sorts came in the Super Eights encounter against South Africa, in which the latter hammered the home team by 76 runs. Bumrah shone with the ball, as he usually does, but South Africa reached 187/7 with a fair degree of ease. India collapsed for 111 in response, Dube alone offering some futile resistance with 42. Social media activists — and Pakistani YouTubers, who take a keen interest in Indian cricket and much else — launched volleys of criticism. But Team India did not let the loss dampen its spirits. In hindsight, the defeat proved to be an aberration.

NIGHT OF GLORY

The 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was a tournament in which the best team won. Like all exceptional squads in cricket history, individuals delivered when the need arose. The Men in Blue fought back from disadvantageous situations and dragged matches back in their favour. They played to win the tournament, not to fade away in the earlier stages. In the end, they produced the result their fans wanted, ending the night of March 8 with joy in the hearts of millions.

(The writer, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature, cinema and pop culture. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)