After World Cup win, Indian team may just be the greatest-ever in T20 cricket

After World Cup win, Indian team may just be the greatest-ever in T20 cricket Newspoint | Mar 11 2026 18:20:48 IST

After the magnificent triumph in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, this Indian team is being hailed as the greatest T20 team in the history of the game. The T20 format is less than two decades old. But India, with three World Cup wins, has emerged as the most commanding force in this format.

India’s triumph was based on an all-out attacking approach. Initially, there was a flutter against the USA and then against the Netherlands. Maybe there was a touch of complacency because these were small teams. But a course correction saw the Men in Blue back on track in the later stages of the event.

There is a popular idiom: “Cometh the hour, cometh the man.” In India’s case, that man was Sanju Samson. The opener scripted one of the most amazing chapters of his cricket career. What was remarkable was that barely a month earlier, the sky seemed dark for the well-built man from Kerala. His place in the team looked uncertain because Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan were firing on all cylinders. There were doubts about Sanju’s ability to cope with pressure.

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Insignificant scores of 10, 6, 0, 24 and 6 against New Zealand in January saw him being dropped from the playing 11. But then India’s biggest hope, Abhishek Sharma, ran into a patch of swampy ground. He just could not get going in his customary manner. Desperately, India looked for a remedy and brought in Sanju Samson.

In hindsight, that proved to be the masterstroke. Against the West Indies, Sanju suddenly found his touch. Every stroke that he played had the stamp of class. He single-handedly took India to a victory with an unbeaten 97. He followed it up with two knocks of 89 in the semifinals against England and the final against New Zealand. Samson played a huge role in helping India to its third T20 World Cup title.

Sanju Samson celebrates with the tournament trophy after India won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 8. Impressive statistics

Sanju amassed 321 runs from five innings with an average of 80.25 and an imposing strike rate of 199.37. He also emerged as the tournament’s top six-hitter with 24 hits that landed across the boundary. Sanju revealed later that Sachin Tendulkar had guided him in regaining his form. Fittingly, he was declared Player of the Tournament.

Abhishek found his touch in final

In the final, India was lucky that Abhishek Sharma at last found his touch and rattled up 52 off 21 deliveries with six 4s and three 6s at a strike rate of 247.62. It was a typical Sharma innings, full of pulverising shots that were unstoppable. The team’s think tank deserves credit for persisting with Sharma even when he was clearly off-colour in the earlier stages. It all came together in the final.

In fact, when India crossed 90 within the first 6 overs, it was a clear indication of things to come. That blitzkrieg by the opening pair accomplished about 75 percent of the task that needed to be done. When Sharma fell with the score at 98 in 7.1 overs, India was in the driver’s seat and the bullet train called India had attained full speed.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav holds the tournament trophy with head coach Gautam Gambhir after India won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 8.

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Coach Gautam Gambhir deserved credit for drawing up the blueprint for the campaign with immense sagacity. For one thing, he did not lose faith in Abhishek Sharma. He knew that this young man was capable of creating massive holes in the opposition bowling and Sharma pulled out his best effort when it mattered most.

The trust shown by both Gambhir and skipper Yadav in the two openers was almost visionary and it had a big contribution to India’s victory. The blazing half-century by Ishan Kishan and Shivam Dube’s quickfire 26 from 8 balls shattered whatever little morale the Kiwi bowlers had.

Mother behind Bumrah’s power

Finally, it was Jasprit Bumrah who hammered the last nail into New Zealand’s coffin. His haul of 4 wickets for only 15 runs, when New Zealand was trying to blast India to smithereens, was nothing short of a miracle. But Bumrah is that sort of bowler from whom performing miracles has become an everyday affair. The fact that Bumrah ended up with 14 wickets from 8 matches at an economy rate of 6.21 emphasised his domination over the batters.

Many people have not heard of a woman named Daljit Bumrah. She is Jasprit’s mother. It was she who played a stellar role in moulding her son into one of the world’s best cricketers. Her husband (Jasprit Bumrah’s father) passed away when Jasprit was only 5 years old. Since then Daljit, working as a school teacher in Ahmedabad, saw to it that no stone was left unturned in developing Jasprit’s cricket career. At the same time she did not neglect his sister Juhika.

Jasprit Bumrah holds the tournament trophy during celebrations after India won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 8.

Unlike many parents, she never forced Jasprit into careers in medicine or engineering. She understood his passion for cricket and encouraged him to excel at the game. With her own well-educated background, she was fully aware of the uncertainties in pursuing a sports career. But she did not back down even when family elders cautioned her. She took a calculated risk and it paid off. Today there is not a single bowler anywhere in the world who can do what Jasprit Bumrah does.