Sanchita Chatterjee, BS News Agency: It might not have been the thriller neutrals wanted, but it was everything India desired. They became the first men’s team to defend the T20 World Cup and the first to win it at home after drowning New Zealand in a deluge of runs in Ahmedabad in front of 100,000 giddy and almost universally blue-clad supporters.
New Zealand looked forlorn while conceding 255 and wretched when attempting to chase it, and after meandering through much of their innings with defeat already a certainty they were still 96 behind when it ended. They have now reached four World Cup finals of various hues since 2015 and lost them all, plus the Champions Trophy last year to boot.
No, New Zealand did not win the World Cup this time either. Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner could not silence the 132,000-strong gallery in Ahmedabad either.
Photo Bibhash Lodh/BS News Agency.
India won with bat, ball, and fielding and easily Rohit, Virat's disappointment led Suryakumar, Bumrah, and Sanjura to the pinnacle of success at the Motera Stadium. India took the most catches in this entire World Cup. Today too, there were easy catches, difficult catches, but several were also tied.
It started with a loss in the toss. But that's where it all began and ended. Batting first, stopping the opposition long before the target proved the indomitable hunger and fight of this T20 team. India had set a target of 256 runs for the loss of 5 wickets for the opposition New Zealand.
Photo Bibhash Lodh/BS News Agency.
England had proven in the semi-final that no run is enough in the current T20 cricket, but India's bowlers did not give that chance to their opponents in the final today. In response to India's 255 runs, New Zealand was bowled out for 159 with one over remaining.
Photo Bibhash Lodh/BS News Agency.
After losing the toss, Suryakumar Yadav said with a smile that they had no problem batting first, they were ready for all situations. And that was evident from the first ball of the match. When Abhishek Sharma came out to open with Sanju Samson.
Photo Sanchita Chatterjee/BS News Agency.
The Indian team management was so confident that they did not think of making any changes to the team. India went into the T20 World Cup final with Abhishek and Varun Chakravarthy, who were being talked about a lot, in the team, and they also kept the team's faith.
Photo Sanchita Chatterjee/BS News Agency.
Abhishek's 52 runs including a century from 18 balls, Sanju Samson's comeback from a century to score 89 runs and Ishan Kishan's 54 paved the way for India to win.
Tail-ender Shivam Dubey did the rest of the work, scoring 26 runs from 8 balls in his familiar style. Only Suryakumar's 0 and Hardik's 18 runs in the middle could not affect the team. India stopped at 255-5.