Superstition plagues India ahead of the T20 World Cup final in Ahmedabad against New Zealand?

India had also delayed their training session at the Wankhede Stadium because of the lunar eclipse on March 3.

Updated on: Mar 7, 2026, 11:20:19 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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Indian cricketers are largely superstitious. It's something well known. Now believe it or not, a PTI report suggests that the Indian cricket team, ahead of their T20 World Cup final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad, has decided to stay in another hotel, hoping it would bring them good luck.

If it is true and then it shows that the Indian team is still rattled by their previous defeats in Ahmedabad. (Hanif Sindhi)

Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium has not been exactly fruitful for the Indian team. In 2023 in the World Cup final against Australia, despite being overwhelming favourites, the hosts choked big time and lost the contest in a rather terrible way. Earlier in the ongoing tournament in a Super 8 game against South Africa, they crashed to their biggest defeat in the history of the T20 World Cup, by runs that is. Chasing 188 to win they folded for just 111.

Also Read: Daring or overconfident? New Zealand's explosive batsman is not losing sleep over Jasprit Bumrah

"In Ahmedabad, the BCCI has changed India's team hotel ahead of the final. While no one will come on record but it is only fair to mention that during team's previous couple of stays in the earlier hotel in Ahmedabad, they lost two big matches (2023 ODI WC final and this year's Super 8s against SA)," the PTI report said.

Indian team had also delayed its training session in Mumbai! But why?

India had delayed their practice and training session the day before their semifinal against England by 45 minutes because of the lunar eclipse. In India, people are generally advised not to do anything during that period because it may bring them bad luck.

Well, it appears to have worked for them since on Thursday they managed to beat England in what was a very tough game. Defending 253, the Indian bowlers were taken to the cleaners and if it was not for Jasprit Bumrah's last two overs in the match, it could have been a totally different story. India survived by the skin of their teeth, it has to be said.

India may have delayed their training session the day before at the Wankhede Stadium, on the day of the semifinal match team coach Gautam Gambhir took some time out to attend cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's son wedding in Mumbai. Gambhir's pics were widely circulated on social media thereafter. Not just Gambhir, several of Arjun Tendulkar's former team-mates from Mumbai Indians, like Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Bumrah and Hardik Pandya were also reported to have gone there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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