India wins T20 World Cup Cricket title

Kathmandu, March 9: India has clinched the title of the ICC T20 World Cup Cricket tournament by defeating New Zealand. 

In the final match held at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmadabad, India on Sunday, India beat New Zealand by 96 runs. It is India's second consecutive win in the World Cup. 

Earlier, India had clinched the ICC T20 World Cup title in 2024. It is also noted that India had won the same title in 2007. 

New Zealand which chased the mammoth 256 runs target posted by India yesterday was confined to 159 runs at the loss of all wickets in 19 overs. 

For New Zealand, Tim Seifert scored the highest 52 runs off 26 balls with two fours and five sixes. Similarly, Mitchell Santner added 43 runs off 35 balls while Daryl Mitchell made 17 runs off 11 balls. 

On the bowling side, Indian bowlers performed excellent. Jasprit Bumrah took 4 wickets for 15 runs in 4 overs. 

Likewise, Axar Patel took 3 wickets while Hardik Pandya, Varun Chakravarthy, and Abhishek Sharma took 1 wicket each. 

Earlier, put into bat first after losing toss, India scored total 255 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. For India, Sanju Samson excelled with the bat, scoring the highest 89 runs off 46 balls with 5 fours and 8 sixes. 

Similarly, Abhishek Sharma added 52 runs off 21 balls while Ishan Kishan made 54 runs off 25 balls. Hardik Pandya scored 18 runs off 13 balls. 

Captain Suryakumar Yadav was out for 9 runs. Towards the end, Shivam Dube made 26 runs off 8 balls while Tilak Varma remained unbeaten on 8. 

For New Zealand, James Neesham took 3 wickets while Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra took 1 wicket each. (RSS)