India lost the toss but other than that, they won the match and thrashed New Zealand. The Men in Blue India outplayed their opponents New Zealand in all facets of the game to win by 96 runs and lift a T20 World Cup at home and 3rd title overall and two back-to-back titles. India put into bat first, rode on another Sanju Samson masterclass of 89 alongside sparkling half-centuries from Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma alongside the finish from Shivam Dube to post 255/5 in 20 overs.
In reply while defending the score, Jasprit Bumrah stood up with a magnificent 4-wicket haul as he finished with 4/15 in 4 overs while Axar Patel picked up 3 wickets as Tim Seifert scored a half-century and Mitchell Santner the captain scored 43 but it was not enough as New Zealand folded for 159 in 19 overs. A thrashing win by 96 runs for the Indians.
Sanju Samson leads a brutal batting display to help India post 255/5 in 20 overs.Â
Put into bat first, Sanju Samson the keeper batter alongside Abhishek Sharma came out to open the batting for India while Matt Henry had ball in hand for New Zealand. After playing through the initial couple of overs, Samson and Abhishek both changed gears due to some strange captaincy tactics by Mitchell Santner as he gave off-spinner Glenn Phillips only one over in the powerplay. The pacers bowled and were clobbered for runs if we are being honest about it.
India aced the powerplay racing to 92/0 and Abhishek roared back into form getting to his half-century in 18 balls. The opening partnership put on 98 runs for the first wicket inside 7 overs before Abhishek fell for 52 off 21 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes to his name to Rachin Ravindra. Ishan Kishan came out to bat next as the 100 runs came up in 7.2 overs. Ishan joined Samson and kept the tempo going acing the middle phase.
New Zealand just went all over the place and the bowling was certainly not up to the mark while India took full advantage of that. The duo added a magical 105 runs for the second wicket and India had reached 203/1 in 15 overs with both batters completing fifties and Samson already reached 89 by then and New Zealand were staring down the barrel.
To be fair, we saw a mini fightback by the Kiwis in the final overs phase. The score was 203 when Sanju Samson fell for 89 off 46 balls with 5 fours and 8 sixes to his name as Jimmy Neesham got his man. Hardik Pandya came out to bat next. Ishan too fell soon as Neesham had two in the over with Kishan falling for 54 off 25 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes to his name. Suryakumar Yadav came and flicked the ball towards deep backward square leg as Ravindra took a stunning catch in the deep. India slipped to 204/4 in 16 overs. Tilak Varma came out to bat next.
Hardik hit some lusty blows while Tilak was there at the other end. Hardik and Tilak added 22 runs for the 5th wicket before Hardik fell for 18 off 13 balls with one four and one six to his name. Shivam Dube came out to bat next. Dube provided the finishing kick that India so desperately needed. He hit some lusty blows especially in the last over bowled by Neesham.
24 runs came off the final over as Dube’s finishing kick took India to 255/5 in 20 overs. Dube finished unbeaten on 26 off 8 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name while Tilak was unbeaten on 8 off 6 balls. 8 extras given by the fielding side.
New Zealand bowlers had a mixed day with the ball. Jimmy Neesham was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/46 in 4 overs. Rachin Ravindra finished with 1/32 in 2 overs. Matt Henry finished with 1/49 in 4 overs. Mitchell Santner finished with 0/33 in 4 overs. Glenn Phillips bowled an over for 5 runs. Jacob Duffy bowled 3 overs and gave away 42 runs. Lockie Ferguson finished with 0/48 in 2 overs. So, this meant that New Zealand needed a mammoth 256 runs to win off 20 overs.
All-round bowling performance led by Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel thrashes New Zealand by 96 runs.Â
Chasing a massive 256 for the win, Tim Seifert the keeper batter opened the batting with Finn Allen while Arshdeep Singh had ball in hand for India. Allen was dropped initially by Dube off Arshdeep. The opening stand gave 31 runs for the first wicket before Allen fell for 9 off 7 balls with one boundary to his name to Axar Patel. Rachin Ravindra came out to bat next. Ravindra did not last long as he fell for 1 off 2 balls to Jasprit Bumrah. Glenn Phillips came out to bat next.
Seifert added 15 runs for the third wicket before Phillips fell for 5 off 5 balls with one four to his name to Axar Patel. Mark Chapman came out to bat next. The powerplay score for New Zealand was 52/3 in 6 overs. The powerplay set New Zealand back and there was no looking back for India. The duo of Seifert and Chapman added 23 runs before Chapman was clean bowled for 3 off 8 balls to Hardik Pandya. Daryl Mitchell came out to bat next.
Just 2 runs were added to the total before the well set Seifert fell for 52 off 26 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes to his name to Varun Chakaravarthy. Mitchell Santner came out to bat next with New Zealand in trouble at 72/5 in the 9th over and were 88/5 in 10 overs and the game was as good as gone now. Santner and Mitchell then tried to build up a partnership to give the team some partnership to note. But they were fighting a losing battle. Santner played his shots while Mitchell was calm.
The duo added 52 runs for the 6th wicket before Mitchell fell for 17 off 11 balls with 2 sixes to his name to Axar Patel. Jimmy Neesham came out to bat next. The duo of Santner and Neesham added 17 runs for the 7th wicket before Neesham fell for 8 off 7 balls with one four to his name to Jasprit Bumrah. Matt Henry came in next and was clean bowled by Bumrah for a goolden duck. Lockie Ferguson came out to bat next.
Santner still played his shots and got New Zealand past 150. The duo added 11 runs to the tally before Santner fell for 43 off 35 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Bumrah yet again. Jacob Duffy came out to bat next. It was now a matter of time before India wins the game. 7 more runs were added to the tally before Duffy fell for 3 off 5 balls to Abhishek Sharma. Ferguson was unbeaten on 6 off 7 balls. 12 extras given by the fielding side as New Zealand were bowled out for 159 in 19 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/15 in 4 overs. Axar Patel finished with 3/27 in 3 overs. Hardik Pandya finished with 1/36 in 4 overs. Abhishek Sharma finished with 1/5 in 1 over. Varun Chakaravarthy finished with 1/39 in 3 overs. Arshdeep Singh went for 32 runs in 4 overs. So, India win by a massive 96 runs to lift the T20 World Cup 2026. Jasprit Bumrah was awarded the Player of the Match while Sanju Samson was awarded the Player of the Tournament.
So, with this the T20 World Cup 2026 concludes with India winning it for the third time while New Zealand falls short at the last hurdle.
Also Read:Â ICC T20 WC 2026: India Strikes Early To Rattle New Zealand In Big Chase.