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India created history by becoming the first team to win a T20 World Cup at home by defeating New Zealand by 96 runs in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Suryakumar Yadav’s side put the ghosts of the past to rest and raced to a record-breaking third T20 World Cup title in front of a capacity crowd at the world’s biggest cricket stadium on Sunday.
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Rohit Sharma’s India lost the 50-over World Cup final at the same venue two years ago, leaving 90,000 fans stunned and heartbroken despite going unbeaten in the tournament.
There was no such pain for the home supporters this time. The defending champions benefited from Sanju Samson’s prolific three-match run and Abhishek Sharma’s return to form as they posted 255-5 in 20 overs.
However, it was always reliable star pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah who ended New Zealand’s hopes of chasing a record, posting an impressive T20 bowling record of 4-15 from his four overs.
Bumrah was named the player of the final while Samson was named the player of the tournament.
New Zealand lost both of their T20 World Cup final appearances and were bowled out for 159.
Indian vice-captain Axar Patel scored 27 runs in three overs and took three wickets as his team successfully defended the trophy for the first time.
India scored the third highest score in a T20 World Cup match with Samson scoring 89 off 46 balls, Abhishek 52 off 21 balls and Ishan Kishan 54 off 25 balls.
New Zealand’s run chase was hampered by the loss of three wickets in the first powerplay, leaving them 47-3 after six overs. Manager Axar Patel let go of the Kiwis’ dangerous starting pitcher Finn Allen, who gave up nine runs, and Glenn Phillips, who gave up five runs.
Bumrah dismissed Rachin Ravindra for one run, but it was Kishan’s brilliant diving catch in the deep that got him through the wicket.
Opener Tim Seifert tried to boost New Zealand’s scoring rate in his usual slot against India’s spin bowlers, but his dismissal by Varun Chakravarthy in the ninth over hurt his team’s chances of a successful run chase.
Captain Mitchell Santner formed a 52-run partnership with Darryl Mitchell, but the latter was lost to Patel in 13 overs for New Zealand’s six wickets.
It then became a question of when, as India continued to take wickets to cement their chances of winning a record-breaking third T20 World Cup.
They put their name on the trophy when Abhishek’s part-time left-arm spin bowling became Jacob Duffy’s undoing.
After Santner won the toss and put India into bat first, in-form opener Samson picked up where he left off by hitting a six from the fifth ball of the fifth innings against starting bowler Phillips in the semi-final.
Top-ranked T20 batsman Abhishek Sharma hit two fours in Jacob Duffy’s first over, matching Samson’s hard hitting for boundaries as India started piling up runs on a batting-friendly track specially prepared for the final.
The opening batsman defeated all of New Zealand’s pace bowlers and stormed to a 50-run stand in four overs, scoring 65 runs from four to six overs.
Abhishek, who had struggled to score in the first phase of the tournament, burst into an 18-ball fifty with three sixes and six fours as Santner and his men struggled to control the scoring rate.
The Kiwi captain then took matters into his own hands, bowling left-arm spin to narrow the boundaries.
Rachin Ravindra trailed Abhishek by 52 runs and benefited from a first-ball break, but the next batsman, Ishan Kishan, scored two runs in an over to keep his scoring rate from dropping.
Samson reached his half-century off 33 balls and attacked the returning Ferguson, taking the pacer out of the attack with a six-ball three and a four.
India’s scoring rate continued to rise in the following overs, with the hosts reaching the 200-run mark in 15 overs and it looked like they might score a total of close to 300 runs in the last five overs.
However, New Zealand hit back with Neesham’s triple wicket over as Samson, Kishan and captain Suryakumar fell with one run between them.
The Blackcaps scored 18 runs on the wicket of Hardik Pandya and were able to reduce the scoring rate in the next three overs. In the final over, Shivam Dube closed out India’s innings with a 24-run onslaught, marking the highest total in a T20 World Cup final.
