AHMEDABAD: Half-centuries from Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan and four wickets from Jasprit Bumrah helped India beat New Zealand by 96 runs in the final to win the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 256, New Zealand’s batting struggled against India’s restrained bowling attack and piled on 159 for 19 overs despite a half-century from Tim Seifert.
The opener struggled for the Blackcaps with a 26-ball 52 with 5 sixes and 2 fours.
Apart from him, Mitchell Santner and Daryl Mitchell scored 43 and 17 runs respectively to accumulate double figures.
Jasprit Bumrah gave away just 15 runs in his four overs and claimed four wickets to spark India’s bowling. He was supported by Axar Patel with three wickets and Varun Chakraborty, Hardik Pandya and Abhishek Sharma with one each.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner’s decision came first as his bowling unit conceded 255/5 in 20 overs against the home team.
India started their innings with a bang as the opening pair of Sharma and Samson put on 98 runs in 7 overs.
Sharma, who scored 52 runs off 21 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes, was caught by Rachin Ravindra in the first ball of the eighth over to break the opening partnership.
Following his dismissal, Ishan joined Kishan Samson in the middle and the duo stitched a 105-run partnership for the second wicket in 47 balls before falling to James Neesham in the 16th over to keep India’s momentum going.
Samson top scored for India with 89 off 46 balls with eight sixes and 5 fours, while Kishan hit 8 fours including four sixes for 54 off 25 balls.
Neesham dealt another blow to India’s batting campaign in the same over as he dismissed their skipper Suryakumar Yadav with a golden duck to reduce the home side to 204/4 in 16 overs.
Following a brief slump, all-rounder Hardik Pandya (18) and Thilak Verma put on a 22-run fifth-wicket partnership that saw the former dismissed in the last over.
Pandya’s dismissal paved the way for Shivam Dubey, who added valuable runs at the back with an unbeaten 26 off 8 balls with three fours and two sixes.
Neesham was New Zealand’s best bowler with 3 for 46 in his four overs, while Ravindra and Matt Henry claimed one each.