Can New Zealand stop India winning the T20 World Cup final?

After a month of compelling cricket, the field has been reduced to just two teams still standing.

It’s defending champions and hosts, India, up against serial semi-finalists New Zealand.

Both sides advanced to the final off the back of compelling batting efforts in the semis, with openers Finn Allen and Sanju Samson the two men who blazed the trail for their respective teams.

Sunday’s game will be compelling. India have lost just once all tournament, while New Zealand have suffered two reversals (each side has been beaten by South Africa).

If India win, they will claim their third title, while if the Kiwis are victorious, it will be their first.

T20 World Cup final – India v New Zealand

Key talking points

India

The World’s number one ranked side are playing at home, and they head into Sunday’s game as the clear favourites. But the favourite tag brings with it certain pressures that the underdog doesn’t have to worry about.

Heading into the final India will be very conscious of the fact that they haven’t been at their fluent best this tournament. Instead, they have relied on standout performances from individuals to get them over the line.

Sanju Samson has been the key in the last two games, while before that Ishan Kishan was the star. Varun Chakravarthy has been amongst the wickets, but he has been more expensive than usual.

New Zealand

New Zealand have never won this competition, but they will fancy their chances in 2026 especially given the way they destroyed previously unbeaten South Africa in the semi-final.

The Black Caps are a superbly balanced team with a mixture of sensational power hitters, excellent all-format cricketers and useful allrounders. Above everything, New Zealand are consistent.

Their opening partnership has been the most consistent all tournament while with the ball the wickets have been shared between several bowlers, with Rachin Ravindra surprisingly their best performer.

Also read: Explained – How the first ever The Hundred auction will work and who has signed up

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

With a capacity of 132,000 this is the largest cricket stadium in the world. It will be sold out for Sunday’s final.

New Zealand have never won a game at the Narendra Modi Stadium, having played there on two previous occasions.

India have an excellent record at the ground, they have played there ten times, winning seven and losing three.

Sunday’s final will be just the 15th T20I to be held at the venue.

The side that won the toss has fielded first in 11 of the 14 games played at the ground.

The average first innings score at the ground is 174.

In what is perhaps a bad omen for the Black Caps, the highest score made at the ground was India’s 234 for four from 20 overs scored against New Zealand in 2023.

The Kiwis’ reply to that score was the lowest ever total at the ground – they were dismissed for just 66 runs.

The highest score successfully chased at the ground was South Africa’s 178 for three from 17.1 overs, made against New Zealand earlier this tournament.

Afghanistan chased 187 against South Africa, which was enough to tie the game but not to win it.

Weather

Sunday evening in Ahmedabad is forecast to be warm and pleasant. Temperatures will gradually cool from approximately 32 degrees down to 27. Skies will remain perfectly clear with no chance of rain.

Expect a light north-westerly breeze, as humidity levels stay low at roughly 25 percent.

Form

• India: W, W, W, L, W
• New Zealand: W, L, W, NR, W

Key players

Sanju Samson

Samson lost his spot in the India team for a while as Ishan Kishan found form and usurped him at the top of the order and behind the stumps.

But Samson is a quality performer and he hs battled his way back into contention to reclaim his openers spot alongside Abhishek Sharma.

Samson has come into form at exactly the right time as without him India may well have bowled out in the Super Eights.

His 97 from 50 balls was the mainstay of the chase against the West Indies, while his 89 from 42 in the semi-final against England was, unbelievably, even more fluent.

Samson has hit 11 sixes in his last two games. There are only two batsmen in the tournament who have scored more than 50 runs who have strike rates of over 200 – one is Samson, the other is Finn Allen.

Finn Allen

What Allen did to the Proteas on Wednesday was truly impressive. It will go down as one of the greatest ever T20 World Cup knocks.

Allen will know it won’t count for much if New Zealand don’t go on to secure the title and he will be looking to continue his good run of form in the final.

His partnership with Tim Seifert at the top of the Black Caps order has been the most fruitful of all opening combinations at the tournament.

Allen’s knock against South Africa took him up to third on the list of top scorers in the tournament (he has 289 runs from seven innings at an average of 57.80).

His opening partner Seifert is sixth on the list with 274 at 45.66. They make for an imposing combination, especially given they are striking at 203.52 (Allen) and 161.17 (Seifert) respectively.

Prediction: New Zealand

No team has ever defended its title, and no home side has ever won the competition. These stats are based on a relatively small sample size of nine previous tournaments, but there is something there.

A final is a one-off and T20, more than any other format, is a lottery. Any team can beat another on its day and this Sunday the time has come for it to be New Zealand’s day.

India have been good this tournament, but as the loss to South Africa showed, when they are fronted up to India can fold just like any other side.

If New Zealand can get onto the front foot and hush the 120 000 people who will pack the stadium, it could have a big effect on the hosts.

Read next: The ECB opening doors to private investors in the Hundred has already backfired

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Bethell makes brilliant century but England fall agonisingly short against India in semi-final

Bethell makes brilliant century but England fall agonisingly short against India in semi-final

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Every South Africa player rated as their T20 World Cup campaign ends

South Africa bowed out of the T20 World Cup on Wednesday as they were comprehensively outplayed by New Zealand, for whom Finn Allen scored the fastest ever World Cup century.

While the loss is obviously very disappointing, fans should avoid being too hard on the Proteas. Ranked fifth in the world, by making the semi-finals Aiden Markram’s side effectively finished higher than their seed.

But having said that, when you have progressed through the tournament unbeaten and then you fall at the first knockout hurdle, it is really does hurt.

While the semi-final defeat is hard to take, there were undoubtedly some excellent performances delivered by the Proteas over their seven-game run in the competition.

Let’s take a moment to look at each players report card. Who shone and where is there room for improvement.

Aiden Markram: 9/10

The Proteas captain led from the front and bows out of the competition as the team’s leading scorer – and the fourth highest overall in the competition.

His knock against New Zealand in pool play was probably the standout moment, but he will obviously be disappointed that he couldn’t repeat it again the second time the sides met.

Overall Markram contributed 286 runs with a high score of 86* and an average of 47.66. He chipped in with the ball as well while his captaincy was also excellent.

He ran out of ideas in the semi but before that he looked like he had all the answers.

Corbin Bosch: 8/10

Less than 18 months ago Bosch had never played for the Proteas, now he is one of their key players.

Useful with the bat and an excellent death-overs bowler, Bosch has seen his ranking shoot up 21 places on the ICC T20 bowler list (he is now in fourth place).

With 11 wickets at an average of 17.36 and an economy rate of 7.64, Bosch has plenty of positives to take away from the tournament.

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Dewald Brevis: 6/10

Brevis is a special talent, but you can’t help feeling that South Africa are not get their full value out of him yet.

The number four position is critical in T20 cricket and while Brevis looks solid there, he has yet to take a game by the scruff of the neck and give it a proper shake.

Brevis bows out from the tournament as the 13th highest scorer with 207 runs at an average of 29.57.

But a highest score of just 45 isn’t good enough for a number four – he needs to be passing 50 with a degree of regularity if he is to dominate innings. Is number four the best place for him? Without a doubt. Expect him to grow into the role.

Quinton de Kock: 5/10

The reborn De Kock blazed his way into the tournament like a comet, but he faded as things wore on. While he finished as the tournament’s 19th highest scorer his average of just 22.62 was a disappointment.

As the tournament moved towards its business end, he registered just one score of substance in the last five games, a knock of 47 against the West Indies.

His dismissal in the semi-final was poor, and it got the jitters going in the batters that followed. He will be disappointed not to have added more.

Marco Jansen: 9/10

Another player who still has a big future head of him, Jansen was clobbered to all parts of Eden Gardens in the semi-final. But Wednesday was not a reflection of his tournament where he did everything that was asked of him and more.

With just three opportunities to bat he ended with an average of 36.50 at a strike rate of 169.76. His undefeated 55 in the semi-final was crucial in giving the bowlers something to try and defend.

With the ball he bagged 11 wickets and was a constantly menacing presence with a strike rate of 12.36 (which was better than both Ngidi and Bosch).

George Linde: 7/10

Big George didn’t get too many opportunities as along with Anrich Nortje and Kwena Maphaka he tended to be used as the second-choice line-up.

But he let nobody down taking three wickets in as many games and keeping it tight throughout. He batted just once and made an undefeated 30 – it is hard to find fault with his performance.

Given his power-hitting ability and the fact that he is a few years younger than Keshav Maharaj, it might not be long before Linde is employed as the first-choice spinner.

Keshav Maharaj: 6/10

Maharaj is the ultimate team man – the way he embraced the challenge of bowling in the Super Over showdown with Afghanistan embodies that.

But he is getting on in years and while he is a wily bowler, he is not necessarily the ideal T20 player. With just five wickets from six games at an average of 35.80 and a strike rate of 25.2 he will be slightly disappointed with his return.

He went at over eight to the over as well. Three of those wickets all came in one over and were all destined for sixes until Tristan Stubbs intervened on the long off fence.

Kwena Maphaka: 5/10

The youngster had limited opportunity to make an impact playing in just two games. He went wicketless against the UAE before picking up two scalps in the dead rubber against Zimbabwe in the Super Eights.

More than anything Maphaka was there to learn. Still just 19 years old, Maphaka has many World Cups ahead of him where he will undoubtedly make bigger impacts.

David Miller: 8/10

One of the all-time Protea greats, Miller had a mixed tournament. He was immense in the Super Over game against Afghanistan and along with Bevis and Stubbs he led an incredible recovery against India.

A total of 174 runs at an average of 58.00 is an excellent return although he will be disappointed that he made cores of 22 and six in his last two games (against Zimbabwe and New Zealand),

Lungi Ngidi: 9/10

South Africa’s player of the tournament, Ngidi showed just how good he really is as claimed the mantle of South Africa’s premier white-ball bowler.

That’s a title that should have been bestowed on him a while back, but somehow it has proven hard for Ngidi to gain the recognition he deserves.

Ngidi ends the tournament with 12 wickets at an average of 15.58. While his best return was his excellent 4/31 against Canada, his best spell was almost certainly his effort of 0/15 from four against India.

Anrich Nortje: 7/10

When a team can have a player like Anrich Nortje as a second stringer you know how strong their bowling must be. Nortje played just twice, getting runs in the games against UAE and Zimbabwe.

He managed three wickets which is a solid return. He would have loved the opportunity to do more, but his role was always going to be as backup.

Kagiso Rabada: 4/10

It is not easy being a bowler in T20 where the margins for error are tiny. It’s why pace isn’t everything and guile and variations are so important.

Not that Rabada doesn’t have these, but he wasn’t able to make it happen in eth same way that his colleagues did. Rabada managed just five wickets all tournament, his scalps coming at an average of 43.40. his strike rate was 32.

None of those numbers stack up when compared to the likes of Ngidi, Bosch or Jansen.

His catastrophic final over against Afghanistan was almost a complete disaster and it spoke volumes that he wasn’t trusted to bowl in the Super Over showdown that followed his nightmare.

Having said that, he deserves praise for keeping his wits about him sufficiently top effect the narrowest of runouts in the Afghanistan game.

Ryan Rickelton: 8/10

He was out first ball in the semi-final, but before that Rickelton had been a standout for the Proteas.

Having failed to win selection to the initial squad, with Quinton de Kock usurping him at the top of the order (and behind the stumps), Rickelton appeared to catch a real wake up call.

He also seemed more comfortable batting at three than he did at the very top of the order.

Rickelton exits the tournament as the eighth highest scorer with 228 runs at an average of 32.57 and a highest score of 61. Only one South African batter scored more than Rickelton, and that was skipper Aiden Markram.

Jason Smith: 5/10

When he was first selected to the squad there were many people who were surprised – especially given that he was picked ahead of both Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs.

But Shukri Conrad bigged him up and there was plenty expected from the Wynberg Boys High product.

But chances were limited for Smith, who was afforded just a single game – against UAE. He did all that was asked of him ending undefeated on three. Aside from that he was a good teammate.

He didn’t do anything wrong, but unfortunately for him he never really got a chance to do anything.

Tristan Stubbs: 8/10

Like Rickelton, Stubbs appears to have benefitted by being dropped from the initial squad. He bounced back well and seems to have found his place as the second finisher (the reserve chute in case David Miller fails).

Stubbs showed his worth in the Super Over triumph over Afghanistan, holding his nerve to hit the crucial six that sent the tiebreaker into a second round.

He also weighed in with a host of useful knocks, not least of all the rescue acts against India and New Zealand. He held a bucketload of catches too. Stubbs heads home with an average of 67.50 from his six innings (he was not out four times).

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T20 World Cup predictions – South Africa and New Zealand to battle it out for berth in final

The 2026 T20 World Cup has reached its business end.

New Zealand and South Africa will face each other in the first semi-final.

What could transpire? Read on to find out.

New Zealand v South Africa

They have faced each other once already in pool play, with the Proteas coming out convincing winners.

Aiden Markram’s team will be hoping for a repeat of that performance when New Zealand and South Africa meet in the T20 World Cup’s first semi-final on Wednesday.

South Africa may be the lowest ranked side amongst the final four, but they are the form side and the only team still undefeated in the competition.

In the last year these two sides have faced each other on four occasions, with the Black Caps winning three times. It’s all shaping up to be an engrossing encounter.

Key talking points

New Zealand

It hasn’t been easy for the Black Caps, but they keep doing just enough to keep their title hopes alive.

The only side in the semis who have lost two games in the competition, New Zealand come into the semis as underdogs – but that’s a position they will be comfortable with.

Like South Africa, New Zealand have never won the tournament – their best finish was as runners-up in 2021.

The Black Caps are a team packed with quality cricketers, not necessarily with T20 stars – that makes them consistent even if they are not always explosive.

South Africa

Whenever the Proteas advance in a tournament talk inevitably turns to choking.

This is of course completely unfair, but it is a legacy that has developed over time, sometimes correctly (because there have been times when they did choke), and more recently due to it being a convenient narrative.

As it stands the Proteas are the lowest ranked side of the four teams left in the competition. They are ranked five in the world with New Zealand four, England two and India one.

In many ways the Proteas have already over-achieved simply by making it to the last four.

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Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

New Zealand have played twice at Eden Gardens, winning once and losing once. For South Africa, Wednesday’s semi-final will be their first ever T20I at the ground.

The average first innings score at Eden Gardens is 162.

The highest T20I score made at Eden Gardens was Scotland’s 207 for four from 20 overs against Italy earlier in the tournament.

The highest score successfully chased at the ground was India’s 199 for five against the West Indies in Sunday’s Super Eight encounter.

Although there is not much in it from a results perspective, the team that wins the toss in Kolkata generally opts to chase with 12 skippers opting to field and six electing to bat first.

The lowest score successfully defended at the ground was India’s 186/5 from 20 overs, made against the West Indies in 2022.

Weather

The weather in Kolkata on Wednesday evening is expected to be warm and comfortable. Temperatures will gradually drop from around 27 degrees to 24.

The sky will remain clear with light southerly winds and no chance of rain. Humidity may rise towards 90%, making it feel slightly warmer than the actual temperature.

Form

• New Zealand: L, W, NR, W, L
• South Africa: W, W, W, W, W

Key players

Tim Seifert

Ranked at 10 on the ICC’s T20 batsman list, Seifert is the difference between a good start and the Black Cap middle order having to play catch-up.

A superb striker of the ball Seifert is averaging 43.20 in the tournament and has already hit 216 runs. Of that total, 71,29 percent have been boundaries.

Lungi Ngidi

Shaun Pollock cheekily suggested that Ngidi was South Africa’s very own mystery spinner given the quality of his variations and his stellar slow ball.

Ngidi is the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament, but he has been so much more than just a wicket-taking threat.

His strike-rate of 12 and average of 13.75 make him more potent that Jasprit Bumrah, but he has also been astoundingly economical, going at 6.87 per over.

It is his ability to keep the runs down that buys other bowlers wickets and which makes Ngidi such a key cog in the Proteas machine. The same can be said for David Miller.

Prediction: South Africa

The Proteas are the tournament’s form team, and they are firing on all cylinders with players performing at all levels – they have two batsmen in the tournament’s top ten and three bowlers in the top five.

New Zealand have just one player on either of those lists, Tim Seifert at 10 on the batting ratings.

Without a doubt, New Zealand are a good team, and at fourth on the ICC rankings they are ahead of South Africa, but the Proteas have the momentum, and they should be good enough to get the job done in Kolkata.

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Explained: How the first ever The Hundred auction will work and who has signed up

2026 marks a significant change in the world of the Hundred as there will be an auction for the first time, replacing the former draft model.

In what is the first season since teams became either part or majority owned by external parties, the ECB announced that the pre-season format for recruitment will also be a lot more similar to the IPL.

How will the Hundred auction work?

Instead of a draft system, this year teams will conduct an auction to decide which players will make up their squad for this year’s tournament.

Before we get there though, teams were given the option to sign up to four players. A maximum of three of these can be direct signings and are either overseas players or centrally contracted England players. A minimum of one will be a retention from their squad last year.

Retaining those will take money from the pot that has been given to each team and looks like this:

Men’s Competition – £350k (1 signing), £650k (2 players), £850k (3 players), £950k (4 players).

Women’s Competition – £130k (1 signing), £240k (2 players), £310k (3 players), £360k (4 players).

After that has been confirmed, teams will take part in an auction held on March 11 for the women’s sides and March 12 for the men.

For the men, they have a salary cap of £2.05m to work to sign up to an 18-player squad while the women have £880,000 for 15.

Before the auction, teams will submit a list of 75-100 players they are interested in and this will form the Auction Longlists of around 200 players which will come from the 1,000 players that put their name up for auction.

After it has been decided which players will enter the auction, they will then be given a tier of Hero, Ranked and Nominated based on the amount of aggregated pre-registered interest from each team.

The Hero players will be bid on in the first phase of the auction, followed by the ranked and nominated players in the next two phases.

After teams have finished with the auction, there is still an additional chance to strengthen in the form of the Vitality Wildcard which allows teams to sign players who perform well in the Vitality Blast, giving players not selected in the auction a chance to still earn a contract.

Which players are part of the auction?

1,000 players from 18 nations have signed up for the auction and there are plenty of big names up for grabs.

The likes of Joe Root, Sophie Devine, Adil Rashid, Deepti Sharma, Quinton De Kock, Tammy Beaumont, Sunil Narine, Beth Mooney, Shadab Khan, Deandra Dottin, Trent Boult and Davina Perrin have all signed up.

A full list for the men can be found here and the women can be found here.

A total of 67 Pakistan players have registered which comes as Indian-owned teams Manchester Super Giants, Sunrisers Leeds, MI London and Southern Brave would not bid on players from that country.

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Will Jacks the hero again as England fight back to win T20 World Cup thriller

Will Jacks the hero again as England fight back to win T20 World Cup thriller

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The ECB opening doors to private investors in the Hundred has already backfired

In July 2025, ECB chair Richard Thompson said it was a “seminal moment for cricket in England and Wales.”

He made that statement after stakes in six of the Hundred teams had been completed, opening the door to private investment and marking a change in not only the franchise league but English cricket in general. While previously the teams were owned jointly by the ECB and county cricket clubs, now the ECB’s shares have gone to American and Indian companies.

The inspiration for such a move which had teams like the Northern Superchargers being sold for £100m is obvious – the Premier League. English football has long been the plaything of foreign investors and the top 20 teams in the country are now almost exclusively owned by American and Middle Eastern companies.

Even at the time, critics of the Hundred – of which there are many – doubted how good the sales away from the ECB were, effectively handing over control, and those fears have already come true in a matter of six months.

Earlier this month, the ECB wrote to every team in the Hundred to remind them of their responsibilities as a team. Without context, it would seem an odd move but behind the scenes, a very real situation has been bubbling up.

The India/Pakistan tension has been something that the ICC in particular has been happy to milk for all its worth. That fixture remains the most lucrative on the cricketing schedule but on-field rivalries became something more during the T20 World Cup when Pakistan initially refused to play India.

While it looked like a problem for the ICC to deal with, the more forward-thinking members of the ECB may have already begun to wonder about how they too soon may have to deal with the problem.

A report from the BBC suggested that four Hundred teams – Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds – would not consider signing Pakistan players for this year’s tournament as these clubs all have Indian owners.

In the email, the ECB reportedly warned of action that could be taken if there was evidence that cricketers are being ignored purely due to their nationality but when it comes down to it, it remains to be seen just how much the ECB can do.

Franchises that ignore the warning could be referred to the independent Cricket Regulator who is responsible for monitoring compliance with the game’s regulations but how do you prove a player was not chosen because of their nationality rather than ability?

It is also a terrible look for clubs in the UK in particular. British Pakistanis are the second-largest ethnic minority group in the country and such flagrant anti-discrimination may well have the ECB facing questions from the government.

The problem has already been put to England white-ball captain Harry Brook who said it would be a “shame” if Pakistani players were not picked but Brook is one of many players employed by an Indian-owned franchise, the Sunrisers.

It is a problem that has no obvious solution and one that will only get more amplified as days tick down to the player auction on March 11 and 12.

But ultimately, this is what has become of the ECB’s decision to open the door to foreign investment and the crusade to push the Hundred to the top of the English cricket agenda. By selling a controlling stake, the ECB has forfeited any ability it had to control the game it created and it is hurtling towards a PR disaster.

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