Sanju Samson’s blistering strike rate, Jasprit Bumrah’s unreal consistency:Contributions from every player won India the World Cup

On Sunday, the Indian team became the first team in the world to win the T20 World Cup title at home. From the first day of the tournament, Team India was the strongest contender for the title, but the trophy statistics told a different story. No team had won two consecutive editions of the T20 World Cup, nor had any team won this trophy at home. But India proved all these notions wrong with their gameplay. India also left behind that fear of Ahmedabad which was haunting every fan before the final. In 2023, Team India had lost the ODI World Cup final on this very ground. Then the team had developed an image that they play like contenders until the semifinal and final, but lose at the last hurdle. By winning the T20 World Cup final in 2024 and the Champions Trophy title in 2025, the team had largely left that image behind. Still, the question remained whether the team would be able to play the same way without pressure this time? Would the burden of expectations from one lakh spectators dominate again? But that didn’t happen. The one-sided manner in which the team won the final by 96 runs showed dominance, not fear. Posting 250+ scores on the scoreboard twice in a row was proof that the team was no longer playing with fear, but rather had a perfect gameplan that proved bigger than any pressure. Perhaps due to that same gameplan, Team India has lost only two matches in the last 34 ICC event games. Out of the top 5 scores in the current tournament, three were made by India. Find out what were those factors in the T20 World Cup that made India the champion…
Bowling: Bumrah once again led the charge
From a bowling perspective, this wasn’t India’s best tournament. On flat pitches, India bowled with the fourth-best average of 21.88 and the 9th best economy rate of 8.48.
India particularly missed having a sixth bowler, as against England the team barely managed to win by 7 runs while defending 253 runs. However, star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah once again led the charge and was the most successful with 14 wickets in 8 matches.
Despite playing high-scoring matches, he only conceded 6.21 runs per over, which was the most economical bowling in the tournament among those who bowled 20+ overs. In the semifinal against England, it was Bumrah who bowled two tight consecutive overs to win the match for India. Sanju Samson 2.0: Surpassed Kohli in impact; fastest World Cup with 175+ strike rate Team Balance: Perfect Top-3 formed with Sanju’s arrival, Abhishek got space, Tilak’s role changed How the top-3 bats in T-20 games can determine the match result.
In the final, India’s top-3; Sanju, Abhishek and Ishan’s trio scored 195 runs in 92 balls. This was the biggest contribution by any top-3 in tournament history. But India’s top order wasn’t this perfect at the start of the tournament. In the first 5 matches, India’s top-3 scored 320 runs, with an average of only 21.33.
At that time Abhishek and Ishan were opening, while Tilak was batting at number-3. All three were left-handed batters, who were getting tied down by opposition off-spin. After losing the first Super-8 match against Africa, management was forced to make changes. Samson entered the playing eleven from the bench and the situation changed.
As soon as Sanju Samson came in, the average more than doubled to 51.45 in the next four matches.