How the Black Caps got it wrong in their T20 World Cup final loss

Tuesday, 10 March 2026

ANALYSIS: New Zealand’s latest quest to land a men's white-ball World Cup crown fell flat in Ahmedabad.

The Black Caps were pummeled by 96 runs by India in the 2026 T20 final on Monday morning (NZ time).

The home side put on 92 without loss in the six-over Power Play after being asked to bat, and NZ’s task remained almost impossible throughout the remainder of the match.

Let’s look at a handful of things that went wrong in the showdown;

Selection surprise

Coach Rob Walter and captain Mitchell Santer selected pace bowler Jacob Duffy in the XI for the final; leaving out off-spinning allrounder Cole McConchie.

Dropping a player who had starring moments with bat and ball during the Super Eights and semifinal felt like a high-risk decision with minimal possible reward.

McConchie had taken two wickets in an over to help NZ defeat South Africa in their last-four encounter, and seemed the ideal player to bowl to India’s collection of left-handed batters in their top and middle order.

Duffy hadn’t played at the tournament since the last game of group play on February 17, but Santner said they didn’t expect the pitch to offer much spin, and that was what resulted.

However, McConchie would have entered the match full of confidence, while Duffy looked shell-shocked by the end of his first over. His first two overs went for 35 runs and he had a catch dropped off his bowling in his third and final over, returning figures of 0-42.

Toss decision

After NZ chased South Africa down in the semifinal with consummate ease, the brains trust again opted to again bowl after winning the coin toss in the final.

But the Ahmedabad venue is a different one to Kolkata, with dew not being a factor later in the game.

Allowing India - a team which had recorded two of the top four T20I totals in recent matches - to apply pressure by batting first on an excellent batting wicket was the major error of the final.

One over of off-spin only

Glenn Phillips was given the job of bowling off-spin to the left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma in the second over - it was the first time the allrounder had bowled in the Power Play of a T20I. He made a fine fist of it, giving up just five runs to Abhishek and fellow opener Sanju Samson, but was never used again - the same thing happened with McConchie in the semi.

Former South African captain Faf du Plessis said possibly the difference with Phillips not being called on again was that McConchie had removed two left-handers, while Abhishek had a likely boundary off the last ball Phillips bowled stopped by some excellent fielding by Daryl Mitchell, and then took nine runs off three balls by Duffy in the following over.

Fellow analyst Anil Kumble believed using four bowlers in the Power Play was “a bit of overthinking”.

Finn falling

Expectations were sky-high for Finn Allen after his 33-ball ton against the Proteas, and chasing 256 for victory, NZ needed a similar showing from him or fellow opener Tim Seifert.

But Allen couldn’t get going, and with Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips also falling cheaply, huge pressure came on Mark Chapman and Mitchell in the middle order. Neither had spent much time batting prior at the tournament, and this was not the time to suddenly change that.

Bumrah’s brilliance

India bowled Jasprit Bumrah.

Facing the right-hander is always going to be a problem for any batter, and the Black Caps did not fare well, with Bumrah removing Ravindra with his first ball and defeated three others, chiefly with slower balls, in returning career-best T20I match figures of 4-15 from his four overs.

'Because I've played on belters over here, I have also seen the other team, how they were bowling… I have learnt over here when you are trying to bowl too fast, it gets easier,' Bumrah said.

Missing men

No Brett Randell in the Black Caps XI. Kidding - not even a fit Will O’Rourke and Adam Milne would have made a match-defining difference.