India win 3rd T20 World Cup, Sanju Samson emerges as the Player of the Tournament

When India were decimated by South Africa last month in the Super 8 stage, their vulnerabilities lay bare and the defeat pushed them to the brink, memories of November 19, 2023, resurfaced.

For many, it raised the question of whether the Ahmedabad stadium was somehow cursed.

On Sunday, the opening script seemed eerily familiar to that painful ODI World Cup final: the visiting team won the toss and sent India in to bat. But that was where the similarity ended. What followed was a complete rewrite.

India’s batters unleashed a brutal assault in front of more than 100,000 spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium as the hosts stormed to history, becoming the first team to successfully defend the T20 World Cup title, the first to win it on home soil, and the first to claim a third world T20 crown.

Facing a nervous and erratic New Zealand bowling attack, India’s top order produced a relentless display of power-hitting.

Three of the top batters struck half-centuries as India piled up a daunting 255 for 5 – the highest ever posted in a T20 World Cup final.

The bowlers then completed the job with authority, never allowing New Zealand to settle as they bundled the visitors for 159 runs with an over to spare. The 96-run demolition job is the biggest winning margin in a T20 World Cup final.

Despite fighting knocks from Tim Seifert (52) and Mitchell Santner (43), New Zealand never truly recovered from the early collapse.

Axar Patel (3/27) and Jasprit Bumrah (4/15) led the charge with the ball, dismantling the Kiwi batting line-up as India sealed a commanding victory. New Zealand were eventually bowled out for 159 in 19 overs.

Bumrah was named player of the final and Samson the player of the tournament.