Chandigarh: When Nensi Patel walked out to receive her White Ferns cap at Seddon Park a fortnight ago, it was the culmination of a dream that had travelled thousands of kilometres — from a small village in Gujarat to the international cricket stage in New Zealand.

At 23, Patel became the first Indian-born cricketer to represent the New Zealand women’s team, marking a milestone not only in her personal journey but also in the evolving diversity of world cricket.

“It’s an incredibly special moment,” Patel said. “Personally it’s a dream come true and a proud moment for my family. Professionally it’s a huge milestone. Being able to represent New Zealand at this level is both an honour and a responsibility.”

Born in Karamdi village in Gujarat, Patel moved to New Zealand with her family when she was just six years old. Cricket, however, had already entered her life before the move. Another Patel – Dipak – back in the 1990s became the first Indian origin player to play for New Zealand. “I had no knowledge about this,” added the cricketer.

“Back in India before we moved, I used to play with my mates in the village,” she recalled. “When we moved to New Zealand, my primary school teacher Mrs McDonald at Tauranga Primary School got me into the school team. That’s where it all began.”

From there, the game quickly became a family affair. Her father Hitesh and uncle Pinakin nurtured her early love for cricket, often accompanying her to training sessions and matches.

“Dad was my very first coach. We’d go down to the local nets with our bowling machine and spend hours there,” Patel added. “They’ve been super supportive through the journey.”

Her family still remains closely connected to her life.

NZ overpowered Zimbabwe to win the T20I (3-0) and lead the ODI series (2-0). Patel picked up 5 wickets in T20Is and 1 in ODIs.

“During my cap presentation I got a bit emotional,” she said. “As a kid I’d dreamt of that moment so many times. It was hard to hold back the happy tears.”

Patel had previously been part of the White Ferns environment, earning a contract in the 2022–23 season, but did not play an international game at the time. The period away from the squad tested her resilience but also strengthened her resolve.

Her Indian heritage continues to shape her outlook both on and off the field. Growing up in a Hindu family, Patel says spirituality has always been a guiding force. “We used to attend Bal Sanskar Kendra as kids and learn about the Bhagavad Gita and Lord Krishna,” she said. “A phrase that means a lot to me is ‘Kam karto ja, hak marto ja, madad taiyar che,’ which means keep working hard and God will always support you.”

“I hope to inspire not only young kids of Indian origin but all backgrounds to keep striving for their goals and dreams,” she said.

Outside cricket, Patel works occasionally with her parents’ cleaning business, CreatClean. She also works as a strength and conditioning coach at the Adams Centre for High Performance, a role she earned through her academic degree.

Despite her young age, Patel has already spent nearly a decade within New Zealand’s domestic cricket structure. She made her first appearance for Northern Districts’ women’s team nine years ago and has since been a consistent presence in their line-up.

Like many young cricketers of her generation, Patel grew up admiring Virat Kohli, whose intensity and passion left a lasting impression on her. “I love his passion and what he brings to the field,” she said. “His belief that the game is never finished until the last ball is something I admire.”

Closer to home, she has long looked up to New Zealand captain Melie Kerr, and now finds herself sharing the dressing room with her. “Whenever I played against her in domestic cricket, I admired the way she goes about the game,” Patel said. “Now being able to play alongside her is an amazing opportunity to learn.”

Looking ahead, Patel hopes to cement her place in the White Ferns setup. One dream venue, however, holds special emotional significance. “I would love to play at the Narendra Modi Stadium in India,” she said. “All my family back in India would be there and considering I’m Gujarati, it would almost feel like a home ground.”

Ahmedabad: India’s white-ball cricket was at its lowest phase at the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups. Having failed to get out of their group in the UAE, they were bulldozed by England in the semi-finals next edition, losing by 10 wickets in the semi-finals in Adelaide. The eventual winners went past the 169-run target set by India with four overs to spare.

India’s inaugural T20 World Cup triumph in 2007 led to the launch of the Indian Premier League. But it took the back-to-back setbacks to finally jettison a conservative batting approach and embrace the all-out attacking philosophy that league cricket embodied.

Lessons learnt from the T20 World Cup setbacks hastened a limited-over revamp that took India to within one win of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Since then India have become the white-ball powerhouse, winning the 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cups, and the 2025 Champions Trophy. They also bagged last year’s T20 Asia Cup.

As India bask in the glory of their latest triumph, the 96-run victory over New Zealand in the final on Sunday—after scoring 255, the highest total in a final—shows how far they have come to dominate white-ball cricket. Be it at home or in conditions not too different from that in the 2024 competition in the USA and the Caribbean, India seemed to have surged well ahead of their main rivals.

Home to the game’s most competitive T20 league, India have become a T20 powerhouse over the course of four years. With 90,000 fans in their corner in Ahmedabad, India’s win against the Kiwis made them the first team to win back-to-back T20 World Cups—winning 17 out of 18 matches in this journey. Only South Africa have challenged them along the way; first in the close 2024 final and then handing them their only loss this time in the Super 8s.

Title wins are defined by scaling the big moments and India did that better than others. Some key figures have contributed to these wins. Importantly, all of them are relatively young and well-versed with the pulse of today’s cricket.

Rohit Sharma was the losing captain in 2022 and kept the job to turn the tide two years later. In both these T20 World Cup campaigns, Rahul Dravid was head coach, having previously overseen pathway programmes at A and U19 levels. When Suryakumar Yadav replaced Rohit, Gautam Gambhir came in as head coach with VVS Laxman now handling the pathway. Ajit Agarkar has been the chief selector in both of India’s T20 World Cup wins.

However, being home to IPL alone doesn’t make a winning team. With all the commercial riders to make the league work, it has become a variant of T20I cricket with the Impact Player rule and foreign players.

India’s squads in the last two World Cups were picked based on conditions, independent of some of the metrics used in IPL. India’s playing template in the latest win—batting until No.8, a high-intent top order, having left-right batters at the crease after starting with three left-handers at the top, and a variety of spinners and power-hitters to pick from—was an improvement on the 2024 squad.

No other squad in the tournament was as complete. Of course, no one else also had Jasprit Bumrah, to apply the brakes on scoring or pick wickets.

India hit the most sixes (106) in the competition with Player of the Tournament Sanju Samson leading with 24. Bumrah had the best economy rate (6.21) and emerged the joint highest wicket-taker (14) with Varun Chakravarthy.

Challenges ahead

As a nation celebrates, the Indian team management’s attention will now turn to extending this success to the ODI format. India won on more familiar Dubai pitches in the Champions Trophy, but replicating title success in foreign conditions can truly help India’s band of achievers to build a white-ball dynasty.

With the 2027 World Cup to be played in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the pitch conditions, potency of the opposition fast bowlers and the bounce that will both challenge the batsmen and reduce the effectiveness of spinners must all be taken into consideration.

The 2028 T20 World Cup is in Australia and New Zealand. There is also the big one outside the ICC framework—the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics where cricket makes a comeback in the T20 format.

“It has been a wonderful journey in the last one month. It didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but then it’s part of the sport,” skipper Suryakumar said. “The next goal is the Olympic gold and also the T20 World Cup that year.”

Shubman Gill will take charge of the ODI World Cup run. After not making it to the side for the T20 World Cup, he will have extra motivation as he works closely with Gambhir.

The India coach though didn’t want to get carried away by the T20 success.

“I won’t talk about white-ball cricket (dominance) because we’ve lost two out of the last three series in ODI format,” he said on Sunday. “ICC events are a different ball game. The pressure is different. But I don’t believe in eras. You have to turn up every day. Whichever match you’re playing for your country, you want to win each and every game.”