​Broad base: on India and the ICC T20 World Cup win

India lived up to its billing of being the number one side in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). The Men in Blue retained the ICC T20 World Cup with an emphatic 96-run triumph over New Zealand in the final at Ahmedabad on Sunday. Often in global sporting tournaments, the more fancied athlete or squad may fail at times as the law of averages catches up; it is to the credit of Suryakumar Yadav’s men that they remained consistent and lasted the distance. Having won the title in 2024 under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, this Indian unit has evolved further. There has been a change in personnel too, as Rohit, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja retired from cricket’s shortest format. Their massive shoes were filled, and with coach Gautam Gambhir propagating a high-risk, high-yield philosophy, the players followed their mentor’s approach and prospered. Including the summit clash, India went past 250 thrice in the championship. The think-tank was also flexible as an initial top-order vulnerability was addressed in time. With three left-handers atop the batting tree, the Indians found rival captains employing off-spinners to counter the batters. Abhishek Sharma losing form also proved to be a complication but by picking the right-handed Sanju Samson as opener, balance was found.

Great teams find ways to cope with challenges, and India, even after losing a Super Eight game to South Africa, stayed afloat. The management persisted with Abhishek and he scored two fifties in the campaign, with the one in the final being vital. Samson, though, was a revelation. Always rated high, at varying points in his career he was competing with M.S. Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant for the wicket-keeper batter role. With 321 runs in this championship and three consecutive 50-plus scores in the last stretch for India, the ‘Player of the Tournament’ ensured that the host fulfilled expectations. If Samson led India’s batting charts, the incisive Jasprit Bumrah and spinner Varun Chakaravarthy finished with 14 wickets apiece and held the top spot in this World Cup. Bumrah was terrific while Varun found it rough towards the business end of the campaign as batters turned aggressive against him. India found heroes at critical points, be it Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube or Axar Patel. Among the rest, New Zealand proved why it remains one of the most resilient teams, sailing into another final before running into India. That outfits such as Nepal had their moments is also a pointer to how T20Is are helping cricket broaden its base.