Ahmedabad: Tilak Varma’s juggling catch at the boundary ropes signalled the end of New Zealand’s batting resistance. Abhishek Sharma was the bowler. These were the final images of India’s World Cup campaign, which was stuttering at one stage before the hosts arrested the slide. Their world No.1 batter who couldn’t find a run initially, blazed away in the final and took the final wicket to apply the seal of triumph on the campaign.
Following India’s 96-run win, Varma raced pitch side and was joined by teammates who gathered around him with bear hugs and fist pumps. Raghu, the team’s throw-down specialist who arrives first to prep the batters in practice sessions, brought out the Indian tricolour and handed it to the proud players to wave to the nearly 90,000-strong Ahmedabad crowd.
In the most difficult format to conquer with all the variables that bridge the gap between well-rounded teams and those that are not, India’s men in blue found a way to achieve a first: becoming the first team in history to win back-to-back T20 World Cup titles.
The game had seemingly sped up after India’s 2007 T20 World Cup triumph. It took them 17 years to catch up. Having found the secret sauce under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in 2024, Suryakumar Yadav-led India repeated the dose at the Narendra Modi stadium in Sunday’s final.
After a less flattering league phase, India were able to lift their game for the bigger matches and moments. Abhishek set the tone.
Take a few balls, get your eyes in. Abhishek went old school in the first two overs to regain his bearings for the match that mattered.
For once, one felt New Zealand were going too funky in the Powerplay, ringing in one-over spells. The wide-outside-off ploy didn’t work against Abhishek either, especially since the Ahmedabad pitch was playing so well. And as a few fortuitous boundaries showed, luck was on the Indian side. Abhishek’s 18-ball fifty (52 off 21b) helped India post joint highest returns (92/0) in a World Cup Powerplay.
Samson shines again
Watching Abhishek find his flow, Sanju Samson was happy to play second fiddle. In their 98-run opening stand, Samson’s contribution was still a healthy 38 (22b) runs. The back-in-form opener batted so well that even while taking a backseat, he ensured no bad ball was left unpunished.
The Kiwi bowlers kept struggling to get their radar right. Samson continued to capitalise. He brought up his third successive half century in the 11th over and maintained the ante with such ease after Abhishek’s departure in the eighth over that he could well have got to the century, but was caught in the deep in the 16th, failing to clear long-on off James Neesham. A 46-ball 89 followed up on 42-ball 89 and 50-ball 97*. A few years back, one might have said three hundreds were missed. But as Samson reminded the media a few days ago, 100 or not, those were still a lot of runs.
Runs which had deserted him in the lead up to the World Cup. A series of poor scores against New Zealand saw him missing out the early half of the World Cup. Samson made up and how, incidentally against the Kiwis in a game that mattered the most.
At the half way mark of the innings after putting India in, captain Mitchell Santner had sneaked in a couple of quiet overs of his own. But his problem was not finding any support from the other end. James Neesham was caned for runs in his first over. The faster Lockie Ferguson bowled, the faster he was sent racing past the ropes. India were scoring at 12 an over.
With the batters in a murderous mood, the crowd roaring in approval, and the Indian tricolour fluttering in stands that were painted blue, the final waited for New Zealand to lift their game. For their meticulous plans to be unleashed. They never arrived. The Indians never allowed the Kiwis in.
Following Samson’s wicket in the 16th over, Neesham had a triple-wicket over, accounting for the dangerous looking Ishan Kishan 54 (25b) and Suryakumar Yadav (0). It resulted in the Kiwis holding the scoring rate for four overs, accounting for 26 runs, but Shivam Dube, India’s broad-chested late overs specialist throughout the tournament came out blazing in the 20th over to spoil Neesham’s figures and take India sailing past 250 for the third time in the tournament.
A 256-run target proved too imposing to scale in a final. Tim Seifert (52 – 26b) showed some early intent. But India used up two of Jasprit Bumrah’s overs in the first six to keep the runs in check. Deservingly, Bumrah, India’s bowler of the tournament, got a flurry of wickets at the end to finish with figures of 4-0-15-4.
