India Makes T20 World Cup History With Dominant Home Victory Over New Zealand

India has just lost two fixtures since 2023, including the ODI World Cup final against Australia three years ago and against South Africa in the Super 8 fixtures of the 2026 T20 World Cup.

A dominant batting show by the top-order of Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and Ishan Kishan, and later fiery spells by Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel, helped Team India make history, beating New Zealand by 96 runs at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

India became the first team to win the T20 WC title at home, the first team to win it back-to-back, and the first team to win the three T20 WC crowns.

Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav, after this emphatic win in the final, surpassed former skipper and batting heavyweight Rohit Sharma to become a captain with the best winning percentage in T20Is. He now has an 80.77 winning percentage. Under his leadership in 52 matches, India have won 42 fixtures, lost eight, and 2 ended in no result.

The 96 runs is also India's biggest win margin in T20 World Cups, bettering 93 runs against Namibia in Delhi earlier in the competition.

Coming to the match, NZ put India to bat first after winning the toss, Samson (89 in 46 balls, with five fours and eight sixes), Abhishek Sharma (52 in 21 balls, with six fours and three sixes) and Ishan Kishan (54 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) and Shivam Dube (26* in 8 balls, with three fours and two sixes) took India to 255/5.

Later on, despite a fifty from Tim Seifert (52 in 26 balls, with two fours and five sixes), the Kiwis had to bow down to the sheer greatness of Axar (3/27) and Bumrah (4/15) as Men in Blue secure their third T20WC title in style, becoming the first team to defend the title, and also the first host nation to win the trophy.

- ANI