India eye third T20 World Cup title, New Zealand hope to spoil party

AHMEDABAD, India (AP):

Memories from a fateful November night still linger on, even as India gun for a record third title when they take on New Zealand in the Twenty20 World Cup final today.

The Narendra Modi Stadium – the largest cricket ground in the world – will once again be packed as the Men in Blue will look to ward off the ghosts of the ODI World Cup final in 2023 when Australia beat India. Pat Cummins lifted the trophy at Ahmedabad as the Indian team watched in agony.

Rohit Sharma then led India to consecutive triumphs at the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, but that defeat to Australia still rankles.

India have won two T20 World Cups (2007 and 2024). England and the West Indies also have two titles. India return to Ahmedabad in pursuit of more silverware – again as co-hosts but this time also as defending champions.

“There is pressure, I cannot deny that,” Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav said yesterday. “There is excitement too – playing another World Cup final and that too on home soil.”

New Zealand hopes to tune out the noise.

“Yes, that’s the goal isn’t it? To silence the crowd, but I think there are a lot of variables in T20 cricket (as compared to ODIs) and it is fickle at times,” captain Mitchell Santner said.

“We have seen throughout this World Cup that a lot of teams are on a similar page and it comes down to little moments in every game that changes the outcome.”

The Black Caps have some hurt of their own. They finished runners-up to England in the 2019 Cricket World Cup, a final that went down to the wire with two super overs played. They then lost the 2021 T20 World Cup final to Australia. It is only the second final appearance for New Zealand in this tournament’s history.

Prior to this tournament, New Zealand engaged with India in a five-match T20 series and lost 4-1. However, that squad had a lot of second-string players and not many will consider that scoreline as a pointer to this matchup.

Since then, New Zealand have shifted up through the gears. They finished second in Group D, losing only to South Africa in the first round. The Proteas enjoyed the advantage in that game at Ahmedabad, playing most of their games at the same venue.

That balance overturned in Kolkata when New Zealand thumped South Africa by nine wickets in the first semi-final. Clever bowling, both pace and spin, and Allen’s 100 not out off 33 balls knocked the 2024 runners-up out of the reckoning.

In-between, across the Super 8s, New Zealand only lost to England en route to the semi-finals, beating Sri Lanka in Colombo, while their game against Pakistan was washed out.

Through round one, India finished top of Group A – also featuring Pakistan. Their sole hiccup in this tournament also came against South Africa – losing the first Super 8 game, also at Ahmedabad.

It served as a wake-up call for the defending champions – coach Gautam Gambhir switched openers as Sanju Samson came into the playing XI to lighten the load on Abhishek Sharma. Samson has since scored 210 runs in three innings with back-to-back half-centuries against West Indies (Kolkata) and England (first semi-final in Mumbai).