India made a slow start to the final of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, as the first couple of overs went for only 12 runs without any loss of wickets, as only Sanju Samson smashed a six off the backfoot in the opening batter against Matt Henry. They needed to break the jail. 

Quite surprisingly, captain Mitchell Santner, who decided to bring an extra pacer in the game, went with four different bowlers in the first four overs of the evening. The incoming pacer, Jacob Duffy, was introduced into the attack during the third over of the innings. After a single off the first ball, Abhishek Sharma used his feet to a short and wide delivery.

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The second official ball of the over was nailed down the track by the southpaw, who didn’t time the ball sweetly but managed to clear the man at the mid-on region. On the very next delivery of the over, Abhishek showed his straight bat and timed the straight ball over the bowler’s head for a fine boundary.

India smash Jacob Duffy for 15-run over in T20 WC 2026 final 

After two silent balls, Sanju Samson decided to end the over with another boundary. It was a poor delivery, and the right-handed batter went under the ball and sent it towards the long-off fence, as they collected 15 runs off the six legal deliveries.

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India continued the momentum from the last over and started the fourth over against Lockie Ferguson with a four and six from the bat of Abhishek Sharma, who didn’t enjoy a great outing in the campaign with three ducks to start the tournament. The fourth ball of the fourth over was helped on its way for a six using the pace of Samson.

India collected 24 runs off the fourth over of the innings as India marched their way to 51/0 as both batters looked to get an early advantage in the ground and put a strong platform for a massive score on the board.

Brief Scores: IND 92/0 (Abhishek Sharma 51, Sanju Samson 33*) vs New Zealand