Editorial: T20 World Cup glory— rise of the Blue Tide

Stellar performances by Sanju Samson and Jasprit Bumrah powered the Men in Blue to redemption after the painful 2023 ODI World Cup final loss

The jam-packed Ahmedabad stadium — and millions who were glued to their television sets — witnessed a cathartic closure to the redemption arc of the Men in Blue as they lifted the T20 World Cup, comprehensively beating New Zealand by 96 runs. On this very ground, the biggest cricket stadium in the world, the Indian team had suffered a heartbreaking loss in the 2023 ODI World Cup finals against Australia, despite having a dream run till that point, winning ten matches in a row with complete domination. The memories of the wound, inflicted nearly two-and-a-half-years ago, lingered in the minds of Indian fans, like a haunting Greek tragedy. It has finally been healed now under the floodlights of the Narendra Modi stadium. If the chilly November night of 2023 was about pain and anguish of faltering at the very edge of the finishing line, this T20 championship finale was about infallible teamwork, meticulous game plan, and flawless execution from the word go. This triumph is truly special because it meant breaking two jinxes: Defending champions had never won the tournament. And, the T20 World Cup always eluded the hosts. On both counts, India, the 2024 winner and a co-host of the 2026 edition, along with Sri Lanka, has set a record. This was a night of glory for a new generation of cricketers, after the T20 retirement of superstars Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja.

The story of the 2026 T20 tournament belongs to two extraordinarily gifted players —Jaspreet Bumrah, an inscrutable bowling magician with stunning consistency and Sanju Samson, a brilliant batter who was brought into the team midway through the campaign after being benched for a long time but ultimately played a key role in India winning the crown. Not surprisingly, Samson was declared the player of the tournament. He was truly the flavour of the season, starting with India’s virtual knock-out Super 8 match against the West Indies in Kolkata. Scoring an unbeaten 97, Samson went on to headline the semi-final with an 89-run knock before producing the same figures in the finals. Samson thereby shattered multiple records, including the highest individual score by a player in the final of a T20 World Cup. Bumrah, named the player of the final match, bamboozled the lower order to finish with 4-15 as New Zealand were bowled out for 159 in 19 overs, chasing a mammoth total of 255. Led by an unorthodox batter, Suryakumar Yadav, the team played an aggressive form of cricket throughout the campaign, putting the opponents on the defensive, be it chasing or setting the target. The only setback was its defeat at the hands of South Africa in the ‘Super 8’ stage, but the Men in Blue bounced back brilliantly with three consecutive scores in excess of 250 in matches against Zimbabwe, England and New Zealand.

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