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Golden chance for India to exorcise the bad memories of Ahmedabad 2023, Nairobi 2000 and Southampton 2021
These three venues have been a cause of heartbreaks for India. Today, they have the opportunity to do away with a bunch of ghosts.
India and New Zealand play later today in the T20 World Cup final at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium, the same venue where Australia had silenced thousands of spectators more than two years ago by totally annihilating Rohit Sharma's men in the World Cup final. In fact, they had silenced the entire country.
On November 19, 2023, Ahmedabad was decked out like a bride to host its first major final, and the Indians were overwhelming favourites to win the contest, having been unbeaten in their previous matches. In their tournament opener, India had recovered from a precarious situation to beat Australia, and thereafter they were just relentless, making short work of opposition teams. There was no way India could lose the final, but that's exactly what transpired that day.
India's batting came a cropper, and they folded for 240, after which the Aussies rode a gigantic Travis Head wave to completely dismantle the hosts as they took the contest in just 43 overs. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the kind of aggression the Aussies showed all through the match continues to haunt Indian fans. All that followed later like Mitchell Marsh resting his feet on the World Cup trophy left a bitter taste in the mouth. To an average, pious Indian fan, the whole thing kind of bordered on blasphemy.
New Zealand aim to do the same later today. Their captain Mitchell Santner has openly said he will do whatever it takes to break the hearts of Indian fans. The Indians will have to watch out.
India and New Zealand have a bit of history!
This is the fourth time, India and New Zealand are in an ICC final facing each other. In 2000, when they met for the first time in the ICC Knockout Trophy, the Kiwis had turned the tables on the Indians in Nairobi thanks to a Chris Cairns hundred. Sourav Ganguly's men saw in utter shock as the burly allrounder, in the company of Chris Harris, slowly took the game away from them. Chasing India's 264/6, the Kiwis recovered from 132/5 and went on to lift the trophy.
Their second encounter in an ICC final next happened in 2021 at the Test Championship. And again New Zealand, under Kane Williamson, with scores of 249 and 140/2 managed to shock the Indians (217 &170), beating them by eight wickets at Southampton. However, in the 2025 Champions Trophy final in Dubai, the Indians pulled one back under the leadership of Sharma.
New Zealand have never lost to India in a T20 World Cup match. They won in 2007, 2016 and 2021. The 2016 defeat was particularly damning as chasing the Kiwis' 126/7, India were bowled out for just 79. One can see the road ahead is going to be tough for the hosts. Suryakumar Yadav's men have no option but to come up with a lot of firsts: first ICC final win at Ahmedabad, first T20 World Cup win against the Black Caps, and become the first team to win back-to-back T20 World Cups. So many ghosts to exorcise!
