Legendary captains MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma bring the T20 World Cup trophy to Narendra Modi Stadium ahead of the final between India and New Zealand. They were accompanied by ICC chairman Jay Shah. The video of the same has gone viral on social media, as their presence makes the occasion more special. Notably, Dhoni won India the title in 2007, beating Pakistan in the final. Rohit, on the other hand, also won it in 2007 and as captain in 2024, beating South Africa in the summit clash.
Meanwhile, both Rohit and Dhoni attended the semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, which India won, beating England by just seven runs.ย
New Zealand opt to field
New Zealand have opted to field first in the final against India. However, Suryakumar Yadav wasnโt very bothered with that, explaining that if they put a healthy total on board, the Kiwis will be put under pressure.
โWe’re happy to bat first. We were looking to bat. It’s been working for us in the last game also. We played a similar kind of cricket. Red soil, so we’re happy to bat first. I mean, always when you play a semi-final or a World Cup final, always it’s good to have runs on board and you come out and defend,โ Suryakumar explained.
India off to a cracking start
New Zealand made a bold selection call, dropping Cole McConchie for Jacob Duffy. Glenn Phillips was used as the off-spinner against Abhishek, but the trick didnโt work out as the southpaw didnโt take any risk. They didnโt use Phillips again, which was also extremely strange as New Zealand were put under major pressure in the powerplay.ย
Both Samson and Abhishek handed India a cracking start as Mitchell Santner used four different bowlers in the first four overs, which made no sense at all.
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah
New Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy