Hardik Pandya of India celebrates another Black Caps wicket during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Grand Final in Ahmedabad, India.
Photo: www.photosport.nz
A white ball World Cup title still eludes the Black Caps after defending champions India thumped New Zealand by 96 runs in the T20 World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
Batting first, the co-hosts posted a big total of 255 for 5. India batter Sanju Samson top scored with 89 runs with fellow opener Abhishek Sharma and No.3 Ishan Kishan both scoring half centuries.
Jimmy Neesham was the best of the Black Caps bowlers with three wickets.
Despite a half-century from opener Tim Seifert, New Zealand couldn’t keep up with the required run rate. Captain Mitchell Santner scored 43 runs at the back of the innings but it was never going to be enough and the visitors were eventually all out for 159.
Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets for India, who become the first team in history to win back to back men’s T20 World Cup titles. It’s also India’s biggest win in a T20 World Cup match.
Santner told Sky Sport he was proud of his team.
“To make it this far, obviously we had some challenges throughout the tournament but at each stage we kind of got through and put on a good show, obviously tonight we were outplayed by a very good team in front of a great crowd,” Santner said.
Ishan Kishan of India celebrates his fifty runs ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Grand Final.
Photo: www.photosport.nz
The Black Caps have a long history of reaching deep into tournaments but have lost multiple finals. They were One Day International runners-up in 2015 and 2019, and have now become bridesmaids in two T20 World Cups.
Santner said the Black Caps did a lot right to reach this morning’s final, including a very good win over South Africa in the semi-final.
“Different guys stepped up at different times throughout every stage, I think we were confronted with challenges throughout every stage and it was nice to get through and super eights and then the semi-final we put on a pretty good show but I guess tonight we were outplayed but the boys should be very proud of their work.”
As it happened: