India successfully defended their T20 World Cup title, thrashing New Zealand by 96 runs in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 final at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Posting 255 for 5, India dominated as New Zealand collapsed to 159 all out. Sanju Samson was Player of the Tournament for his 89, while Jasprit Bumrah's 4 for 15 earned Player of the Match. Former captain Sourav Ganguly called New Zealand's decision to field first 'a recipe for disaster'.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to field first on March 8, 2026—a call heavily criticized by former India captain Sourav Ganguly. India's top order fired, with Sanju Samson scoring 89, Abhishek Sharma blasting 52 off 18 balls (the tournament's fastest fifty), and Ishan Kishan adding 54 to propel Suryakumar Yadav's side to 255 for 5 in 20 overs. (For a full innings breakdown, see our earlier coverage.)
New Zealand's chase unravelled, collapsing to 159 all out. Jasprit Bumrah starred with 4 for 15, ending the tournament with 14 wickets at an economy of 6.21. Bumrah drew high praise from Ganguly, who called him 'a freak' during an appearance on Revsportz.
Ganguly was scathing about the toss: "New Zealand had lost the World Cup by 7:30 pm. How can teams ask this Indian side to bat first? It is a recipe for disaster. The match started at 7 pm and was over by 7:30 pm. I said as much to the people who were watching with me." He lauded India's batting depth from Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel, emphasizing the bench strength: "Just think of the players who are not in the team... Shreyas Iyer is a bona fide white-ball great, yet he doesn’t get a spot... You can easily field two teams of great quality."
Tension arose in the 11th over when Arshdeep Singh, after conceding two sixes to Daryl Mitchell, threw the ball at the stumps, striking Mitchell. After remonstrating, Mitchell saw umpire intervention; Arshdeep apologized. India coach Gautam Gambhir defended him to ANI: "You’re representing your country. You’re bound to show aggression... He doesn’t need to say sorry." The ICC fined Arshdeep 15% of his match fee and one demerit point.
Post-match, Gambhir prioritized team success, while former India coach Gary Kirsten (now with Sri Lanka) praised the squad depth in Wisden: "There are so many good Indian players around now, you could literally pick three teams."
Samson earned Player of the Tournament with 321 runs at a strike rate of 199.37, including three consecutive 80-plus scores—the second batter to achieve this in a T20 World Cup.
