Summary of this article
New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl against India in the final
Cole McConchie makes way for Jacob Duffy
India go with the same playing XI
India and New Zealand are taking on each other in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday (March 08). India are gunning for the third title and the second consecutive one. Meanwhile, New Zealand are yet to gain success in the competition and will be in pursuit of their maiden championship.
India entered the final on the back of a solid win against England in the semi-final. The match was a high-scoring encounter with over 500 runs scored in aggregate. India were able to narrowly edge England by 7 runs and with it they entered their second consecutive final, this time at their home.
Also Read: India Vs New Zealand T20 World Cup 2026 Final Live Score
New Zealand defeated South Africa one sided to book a place in the final. They have played the final of the ICC T20 World Cup only once before, in 2021 where they lost against Australia in the final. This time, they have reached the summit clash once again as underdogs and are aiming to go all the way. They have lost two games in the competition so far, yet their gritty performance took them to the top two.
India Vs New Zealand Final, T20 World Cup 2026: Toss Update
New Zelanad have won the toss and have opted to bowl first.
Mitchell Santner's Statement At Toss
We are going to bowl first. Looks a good surface, a tinge of grass on it. So, I guess we'll see if it does anything at the top. And we know obviously India have a lot of power to try to restrict them to, I guess, a chaseable score. Boys are good (talking about the mood in the camp). I mean, this is what we play the game for. In front of obviously this many people, it's going to be awesome. It's going to be a great night and hopefully we can put in a good show. I mean, we knew that, you know, making the semis obviously a great occasion and then we had to put in a good performance against a very good team. And we did that, which was very pleasing. So guys can take a lot of, I guess, confidence from that. And we know we've got a massive challenge tonight, but we're looking forward to it. Yeah, I think so (If the team has peaked at the right time). I think it's, I guess every team wants to kind of peak at the right time. And we've started to do that. I mean, you kind of look at the stages of the competition. You want to just kind of get through each stage and I guess this is the biggest stage and we're here now. So everyone's ready to go. We're going with another seamer tonight, so no McConchie. And Jacob Duffy comes back in. It looks like a very good surface, to be fair, so see if it does anything first up. But I think there'll be a lot of runs in it.
Suryakumar Yadav's Statement At Toss
No, no, we're good (to bat first). We're happy to bat first. We were looking to bat. It's been working for us in the last game also. We played a similar kind of cricket. Red soil, so we're happy to bat first. I mean, always when you play a semi-final or a World Cup final, always it's good to have runs on board and you come out and defend. And the bowlers are doing a wonderful job as well. It feels good (to be defending champions). But at the same time, it's history now. It's a new World Cup. But same venue from 2023 (World Cup final), but then yeah, we are very excited for it. It's special. You know, a game like this in front of 120,000. I mean, absolutely amazing. The game has not even started. It was just toss time and it looks full already. Hopefully we give them a good show tonight. Going with the same team.
India Vs New Zealand Final, T20 World Cup 2026: Playing XI
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.
New Zealand: Tim Seifert(w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner(c), Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy
