India thrash New Zealand for World Cup glory

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It's been taken, has it?

Yes, it's completed.

The catch has still at Varma.

And Abhishek Sharma takes the last wicked.

My God, what?

India have won first time.

Defend a T20 men's ICC trophy.

And the third star will go up on those jerseys.

Wild celebrations.

So India become the first side to win back-to-back T20 world.

Cups in the men's game.

The first side to win the title on home soil.

And wild celebrations here in Arminabad.

Four unquestionably the best team in the tournament.

The best team in T20 cricket internationally.

And they rightly can celebrate at a ground where there was heartbreak

in the 50 over World Cup in 2023.

That has been replaced by jubilation after a dominant win over New Zealand.

Asked a bat first.

India 255 for five.

And in the end, after 19 overs of a brave,

but ultimately futile run chase.

New Zealand all out for 159,

falling 96 runs short against this brilliant

and outstanding unit of Indian cricketers.

Who rightfully will be lifting a trophy that they can say they deserve.

They're the best team in the world.

And they've proved it against New Zealand in a World Cup final in front

of 100,000 here in Arminabad.

Alongside me, Ash is winning fast.

Boulder, Stephen Finn, Abhishek, John John,

while a former IPL star as well.

And Abhishek, incredible scenes out there.

India flags everywhere you look.

Celebrations for an India side that have been brilliant in this tournament.

Well, they have been, I'm just a bit worried.

It might take you a few hours to just try and get out of the stadium.

And it's just going to be absolute carnage.

It's going to be mayhem on the roads.

They'll be traffic all over.

But the thing is for me, what's really impressive,

to have that kind of expectation.

And then to fulfill that expectation takes a lot of courage,

especially in home conditions against your home supporters.

To give this team a lot of credit for going out there

and soaking up all that pressure and delivering.

But what a performance in the last two or three games.

Since they had to win against West Indies,

they put up a brilliant performance there.

And against England, again, a massive total, 254 and 255 tonight.

Yeah, they've really played like champion that deserve all the credit.

I think they have unquestionably proven,

of course, the last couple of matches, Stephen.

But though England round them close,

this is an India side that is just a little bit better.

And in the final, a lot better than those around them.

Well, they have depth, don't they?

I think the remarkable thing about Indian cricket

and especially T20 because of the IPL is just the depth.

And if one person is not performing,

there is someone else who will come in and take your place

and do just as good as you, if not better.

So it keeps you on your toes,

which breeds a healthy team environment

to keep pushing yourselves forward.

And then they have trump cards as well.

And the biggest trump card of the more that we've lauded today.

Jasperic Bumra is always weighed into equations

when teams are trying to chase runs or set.

That there's a degree of respect given to his four overs,

which means that you then have to go extra hard against the others.

So yeah, they seem to have every base covered.

There's so much to like about the India team

in terms of the diversity of skills that they have across the players.

And yeah, I think it's not a huge thing to say.

They were the strongest team in this tournament.

They were the favorites, and it's not a surprise they've won.

How much pressure would they have felt coming into this game?

Abhishek, give a what happened against Australia

in the final of the 50 over World Cup a couple of years ago

on this ground, of course.

Oh, huge.

And also just a sheer pressure of the final.

And again, in the back of the performance, New Zealand had

against South Africa the way they won that game.

That would also have created a lot of pressure.

But just playing in home condition in front of 120,000 people,

1.4 billion people in India, expecting 1.5 billion people,

expecting them to win.

And it's not easy to go out there and perform the way they have been.

Right, let's get some reaction.

Harsha Bhau, you're like, he's alongside Abhishek Sharma

and Varan Chandra Valkyrie.

Why is this happening to me?

Can I be there on the big day?

I mean, of course.

But the one thing was very clear.

I wanted to share before as well.

But today was the best day.

You know, tell about this thing that the coach and the captain,

they had the faith in me.

And you know, even I was routing myself

because it wasn't easy tournament for me.

I've never experienced this before.

But still playing the first World Cup, everyone was so,

so much into me that you're going to win one game,

one big game, one big game.

So I was just, you know, doing my process.

But it wasn't that easy.

As a young player, or probably you've just

been one or two years in the Indian team.

And then, you know, going through this phase bus,

I think I just love this team.

The way they treated me in those days,

it was, I've never felt it before.

And the two of you have such beautiful stories, Varun.

You're a World Cup winner.

Tell me about the feeling.

Feels amazing.

Two back-to-back, ICC trophies and it feels very surreal.

I'm very happy for Abhishek.

He was able to score today.

And he used to sit next to me, and he used to have good time.

Yeah.

Tell us about the conversations you used to have.

We used to keep changing states.

We had like, what's happening?

Nothing is working out for us.

And finally, we have won the cup.

So everything is zero-dot, yeah.

You had quite a journey yourself.

How does it feel now to be standing up on something

that must have been a dream for you?

I mean, I've told you before as well.

It wasn't that easy for me because, you know,

going through the whole year, you've

been doing well for the team, and especially

on the big occasion, I wasn't able to do well.

But the faith and the confidence, I think, players

and support staff and coaches showed on me.

I think I got emotional in between the tournament

as well, because if you see that,

I wanted to do really well for all the games, probably,

but I couldn't.

But then I was like, I wanted to talk to coach or captain.

They always wanted to come to me and just say one thing,

you are going to win as the big games.

And I just wanted to wait for that day.

And you can't ask for the better day for this.

Well done.

Overjoyed for the two of you.

We will get plenty more reactions

as we go through the remainder of the program.

Looking back at this game and the Tournament

more broadly, about wild celebrations.

And Abhishek, I love that interview there,

with Abhishek Sharma alongside Baron Chakravati,

because actually hearing from players

for who the Tournament hasn't gone particularly well

at times, three ducks for Sharma.

Chakravati is being expensive, but actually

a real insight into what makes this Indian team take.

Well, absolutely.

I think, first of all, it feels like it's a very healthy

atmosphere.

And I think a lot of credit goes to Suryakumari

other than got them compete to create that atmosphere

around the players, where they speak so highly

about the captain and the coach.

And that's so important, especially when the players

are down and out, they're not performing.

It's so, so important for that for the captain and the coach

to have that regular conversation and keep giving them

the confidence which he spoke about.

That even when I was not performing,

they kept telling me that I'm going to win them

them one big match.

And luckily for them, it came in the finals

and what more can you ask for?

From Abhishek Sharma and Baron Chakravati.

And these two were the players, the whole of India

was looking up to because you expected both of these

players to win a lot more matches than they did in this

World Cup because they came in with such good form.

Varun Chakravati bold exceptionally well against New

Zealand before the World Cup.

Abhishek Sharma had a terrific bilateral series against New

Zealand.

But then to come out and not perform at the level,

they were expecting.

And then to finally get that performance in the final,

yeah, that must have made them a lot happier.

Yeah, wonderful scenes out there at the moment

with thousands of people.

Including Prakash Makaka of our team,

who's wearing an enormous bib that actually is almost

to get him onto the field.

It's almost down, but there was knees actually.

So it makes quite a, it's quite a vision out there

in the distance.

Stephen, it does sound like a very healthy team environment.

And it's easier when you're winning.

But it has been quite a straightforward,

is it might have been in this tournament for India?

No, and that's probably been a good thing for them.

I think you have, if you kept on your toes throughout the

group stage and you don't play perfect games all the way

through, I think it battle hard on you to then get to the

back end of the tournament and be ruthless when you need

to.

Two teams that spring to mind when you think of them

serenely making their way through is India in the 2023-50

overworked up.

Serenely made their way without challenge all the way

through to the final and then lost in the face of Australia.

And then South Africa in this tournament, they had a

scared in there against Afghanistan when it went to two

super-overs.

But outside of that game, they swept past everyone in front

of them and then New Zealand gave them the thumbting in the

semi.

So to have done it the slightly harder way, I think served

India well and meant that when they had the opportunity in

these two knockout games, they weren't going to not make the

most of batting first and to post-250 twice in important

games is quite something.

Yeah, well, it's a rare thing to do it once, but to do it

and back-to-back matches and knockout matches, 19-4s, 18-6s.

They were looking at 300 at one point, Abishek.

After 15 overs, they were 203 for one.

It was an astonishing blitz of batting that almost felt like

they came out here tonight and thought, do you know what?

Actually, this is our time.

This is our moment.

We've been described as the goat team, the greatest of all

time.

Absolutely when we've been very good.

Yeah, 100%.

I think, and it also proves that it wasn't easy for the new

battles to just rock in there and start hitting the ball

from the very first delivery.

Though Sanju Samson, we talk about Ishan Kishan and Abishek

Sharma, the way they gave that launch pad to the likes of

Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandey and Shivam Dhuwe.

That was so, so crucial for them to get to that total in this

game, because if India lost a couple of early, because

things could have been very different from the runs

perspective.

So it just shows that, you know, even in this format, it's

so important for batters to understand that and just give

themselves that extra bit of time, because all of them got

that talent, that power to hit those boundaries which you spoke

about, 18-6s.

I mean, that's ridiculous amount of 6s in just one innings.

It's pretty much a six-every-over.

Yeah, it was outrageous hitting it really was and actually

started quite slowly in the innings with the first couple

of overs feeling quite timid.

I mean, the fact that they scored more runs in the T20 on this

ground in a final and they didn't the final of the 50 over a

couple of years ago tells, tells its own story.

There was an email into the TMS inbox, Stephen, that said,

well, who stands a chance of beating this India side?

Yeah, England got close, but they do feel streets ahead.

Yeah, and it's the depth, I think.

It's just the fact that it's not just a couple of people that

they rely on to project themselves towards those scores.

It could be any one of five or six matters that get them there.

And that's the thing that makes a T20 team like this so

dangerous is that the power just keeps on coming and coming and

coming and there's absolutely no doubt that the IPO is the

reason for that.

It's the premier T20 tournament in the world.

You have to fight your way into these franchises and you have

to be good enough to sustain a career in it.

And I think that that sets you up world to go into international

cricket and hit the ground running.

It's almost like the Harlem Globetrotters having a team in a

World Cup, isn't it?

They're just the best of the best.

And yeah, it's been remarkable to watch these last two games,

the semi-final and the final.

What was that team, the US basketball team at the Olympics in 96?

The dream team.

It was just a sort of inevitable path towards the title.

Yeah, it's not quite like that for India who lost heavily here

against South Africa and easily.

Well, not quite easily, but could have lost to England in the semi-final.

What about the tournament more broadly, Abhishek?

And has this been a vintage T20 World Cup?

I've enjoyed the T20 World Cup because first of all,

I quite like the fact that it's 20 teams and you get to see so

many players from the associate nations, which makes it so, so

special.

And also you see that gap closing in with the associate nation

as full-playing nations.

And you know that cricket is in a very good place.

And in the next three or four years, we'll probably see some of these

smaller nations really competing hard against the likes of India,

England, Australia, New Zealand, and which is, which is fascinating.

And that's exactly what we want to see that more and more countries take

up the sport and the cricket truly is a global sport now that,

but the reach is even more and even bigger.

Yeah, it does feel like a tournament, Stephen, where that message has been

emphasised that a broad tournament with teams taking part is a better one.

USA came close against India.

We saw Nepal very nearly beating England way back when at the start of the

tournament, you and I were there in Mumbai.

And so there is a real sense that this has been a good tournament for that

message.

Absolutely.

I've really enjoyed that group stage and the

jeopardy that comes with that group stage, loser game and loser game gets

much closer to course to identify the player of the match.

Right.

He's the ambitious with the player of the match.

Jasprepumrock inevitably for the 15 congratulations to Jasprep.

What does this win generally of another World Cup mean to you?

Oh, feels extremely special because I've played one final at my home venue

and you know, couldn't win that one, but this one feels really special.

I was really motivated.

I was really clear.

I knew what I wanted to do.

The wicket was a flat one.

So I've played all my cricketers.

So I used all my experience.

Today was a wonderful day where all the execution went as per plan.

So yeah, really happy, really grateful.

God is really kind from a tournament perspective.

You bulls some of the toughest overs to start occasionally the middle and

at the back end, give us an insight into your mindset and your character

and your planning in approaching this.

So before this before this tournament, I was in that zone where I felt I was

trying too hard because I was bowling really well.

But somewhere or the other, I was feeling that maybe I'm trying too hard.

But in this format, I let the game come to me.

I was clear.

I used to prepare and then read the situation and believe in myself.

That is what I tried to do in this tournament.

I worked really well for me.

So yeah, my individual assessment of my game has always been my strength.

So yeah, couldn't be really happy.

I couldn't be, couldn't be special than this to win.

Manu match here, World Cup final started my cricket here.

Doesn't get better than this.

And to top that off with your best figures in T20, that must be the ice.

That I was not aware of, but really happy to close off the on the win.

With regards to your slow ball and when you ball it,

you got Harry Brooke with the first ball of your spell.

You got another wicket today with the first ball, Ratchet Ravindra.

What is it that I suppose dictates when you use that?

Because of the experience, because I've played on bentos over here,

I have also seen the other team how they were bowling.

I have learnt over here when you were trying to bowl too fast.

It gets easier, short making gets easier.

Sometimes the ball gets on.

So keep keep being smart, keep changing your pace.

You know, and expecting what the bashman is trying to do.

So all of these things really help you and clarity while execution also helps.

Just a final word on the rest of the bowling group that operated around you

and you leading them.

Oh, it was really wonderful.

Everybody is very clear.

Whenever we've discussed, they always come up with their options.

And whenever there's some communication that is to be needed,

we always did that. We kept calm.

We were never panicking.

Even if sometimes in the tournament, the games got close like the last one,

we never panic.

We always went that we'll keep a head above the water and try to hold our nerve.

Teams that do that win the tournament and we're very happy that we did it.

And good grief.

You say, you know, there's a strong welcome.

This crowd here must be special.

It's really, really special.

The crowd was really brilliant.

They were behind us.

They supported us throughout and they're really, really happy and really thankful for all the support.

Thank you very much for your time and congratulations.

Cheers. Thank you.

Also, Jasper Pumra, player of the match and leading wicket taker in the tournament as well.

Now, there's going to be a fairly extensive presentation where all sorts of people are

mentioned and sponsors are discussed and one thing and another.

And so we made just a dip in and out of that, I think it's fair to say.

But I'm pleased to report that safely back in the commentary box after his adventures on the outfield.

Prakash Wakanka is back alongside me.

Prakash, take us down there, house it, house it out in front of a hundred thousand.

Well, it's crazy.

It's crazy.

I mean, I don't know how the players handle all that.

This is not even a screaming crowd.

They were just enjoying what is going on.

It's just overwhelming.

You go down there and you feel like, you know, every eye,

every pair of eyes is on you.

You could see tears of joy in the eyes of a few players.

I think the expressions of Surakumar's face were even brighter.

His smile was wider.

I think Jasper Pumra and his wife, who is of course here in her own capacity as a presenter.

They were together as well.

Lots of Indian flags, lots of the office bearers, the chairman of selectors Ajitagarkar.

Sonal Gawaskar walking down, just reminding everyone that he'd promised he'd dance of India one.

So at some point there will be a little dance or a geek.

We can look for to that somewhere.

But yes, generally a relaxed atmosphere and to see how many people have stayed back,

obviously, is for what is going to come in terms of the final presentation and so on.

Indeed.

I know that 2023 will still hurt so many that were involved that day.

But how much of a salve is this, that to come back to the same venue with all of the worries and concerns about history repeating itself,

but to be so dominant?

Yes, I think without question that will help to, well, what's the right word?

I think you use the word salve, yes, I think it will be somewhat of a salve.

It'll not be a redemption because what happened then will continue to rank with those who missed out.

None more than I think someone like Rahul Dravid,

he got his redemption in some ways in Barbados last time around.

But I think for those players who will be thinking back at the moment that will not be a factor.

But I think more importantly,

Indians being as superstitious as we are,

the fact that this ground was jinxed, I think, will now be put away at least for some time.

And good or bad, I see some bigger events happening here in Ahmedabad at the Narendra Modi stadium.

It's often said, Abhishek, that cricket is a religion in India.

And it feels a bit of a, I don't know, a bit of a cliche that people lean on.

But to India as a country, as proud, and as cricket loving as this,

I mean, it is huge when their national side wins a World Cup.

I think it's all about that.

I mean, I think we give far too much importance to the IPLES.

People love IPL, India loves IPL, it's another,

it's like a Diwali in India when IPL is on.

But I didn't think for still for the supporters and for the fans, for the real fans of India,

there's nothing bigger than India winning these ICC events.

And that's what every player play for as well.

Yes, you can have five IPL trophies, but nothing beats in World Cup.

So if you ask a like of Rohit Sharma or a Virat Kohli,

everything the play is to win trophies for India.

So I think the emotions are completely different.

And that's what you look for when you look at Indian cricket.

Yeah, Prakash, it's a really good point, that isn't it?

That throw your IPLs and everything else and the glitz and the Klamah.

Representing your country does do something different.

It absolutely does.

And I think there's a lovely phrase that I know a colleague of mine

who I won't mention, but in the corporate context for some job,

said something beautiful once, he said,

doing it for the flag is very different from doing it for anything or anybody else.

And therefore, I think whether it's the IPL, take nothing away from that either.

But everything else then pales into insignificance when you're doing it for your country.

And yes, I think I didn't entirely agree with what Abhishek said.

This will bring euphoria, bring joy to so many millions and billions of people.

Both in India and outside, wherever there are Indian supporters who love this cricket team.

Yeah, and they do. They really do.

It is adoration, the like of which you see very seldom in any sort of context.

Really, aside from perhaps, you know, I don't know, take the swift fads.

You know, it's that sort of, it's that sort of thing.

I know what you mean, absolutely.

I mean, we met, I met someone this morning at the hotel

who had flown in last night from Seattle and was going to go back again tomorrow

with everything that's going around in the world.

He said, there was nowhere I was going to miss a final.

I came here in 23. I saw India lose.

I want to miss India win and he will be going back a happy man.

Steve, I think you've kept in T20 sides.

You know what it takes to be successful and to actually get the formulas right.

Yeah, and there's so many people behind the scenes that come into it as well.

It's not just the 11 players.

It's the support staff, the analysts, the massage therapist, the physio.

It's everyone. It's a whole team effort and to come through a big tournament like this

with all the travel that's involved and the pressure.

Those support staff behind the scenes alleviate a lot of the pressure on the players

to allow them to go out there and perform at their absolute best.

So yes, the players get the headlines as they should do because they're the ones out there

making those headlines and the ones who are performing.

But it's a far more nuanced landscape behind the scenes

that leads to a team winning a World Cup like this.

So credit to everyone that's involved with it and they're a machine, aren't they?

Indian cricket are an absolute machine in white ball cricket in particular.

31 of the last 33 games in ICC tournaments, they've won, which is a remarkable record.

You know, every member of that entourage from whether it's the mass use,

the person who sort of manages the kit to the ones who do the throw downs,

of course, the better known faces of the support staff got them gumbeer himself.

By the way, got them gumbeer had a big smile on his face, Henry.

You should be pleased about that as you would imagine the India coach.

But reality is that this has been an effort that's been a team effort.

But I think the one noticeable thing for me in India, in this performance through the tournament,

has been there was very little conscious talk.

And in fact, if it's to play down any one or two performances beyond a point,

it looked like we're in this together, we're going to do this together, win or lose.

It's a team effort and I think that message came through.

You look at the top bowlers, batters, six hitters, whatever.

There will be very few names if any in the top three or four in this tournament were Indians,

because it just shows you that everyone has contributed at some stage or the other.

And that I think says a lot for the way this team is involved.

Yeah, and I think it's a really good point, isn't it?

And the way that Sanju Samson seamlessly slotted in at the top of the order has been quite brilliant.

The words that we heard from Abhishek Sharma and Varan Chakravati about how when they were struggling,

coaching captain were coming up to him and said,

look, you've got one big game in here and that might be all that we need from you.

So just keep on going and actually that Abhishek, that does feel like the mark of champions when you've got that culture.

100% and what Prakash mentioned, which is so, so true that if you look at the list of the highest run getters,

apart from Varan Chakravati, I think he ended up as one of the highest wicket takers,

but Indians are not in the top three or the in those lists and he just shows that it's been a collective effort,

it's been a team effort and that's what you need.

You need every individual to put their hand up at some point where the team needs you and that's exactly what this team has done.

Whenever the chips were down, somebody came in and you know, just saved the team or just performed to get this team up and running again.

And that just shows the character these players have and what this team is made of.

And this is it, isn't it?

It's character and it's characters and how much credit do you think both Gautam Gambair as coach,

Prakash and also Sirri Kumar Yadav is kept in reserve for leading this side.

Well, those are the names of those of the titles they carry, they carry the responsibility,

they face the brick bats, they face the criticism and God knows for different reasons both Gautam Gambair and Sirri Kumar Yadav have

caught their share of criticism.

So it only goes without saying that all the credit or at least a large part of the credit has to go to them.

So Dan Chukotak, the batting coach, T. Dilip, the fielding coach, he got a lot of flak after that suboptimal

fielding performance earlier on in the tournament, but they rose against England, they performed pretty admirably here.

And I think all of the support staff has been indicated, deserve all the credit.

But Gautam Gambair I think will now say that white ball cricket at least is something that India have at least temporarily

mastered in a manner of speaking, they've won, like you said, 31 out of 33 games in ice as the tournaments.

Yes, the red ball game is a conversation for another time, but that's challenges there.

Yep, I think we can park that one for tonight, Prakash.

Lovely touch actually from the drone show, higher above the ground, which is it had the outline of a male

cricketer shaking hands with a female cricketer, handing over the baton of T20 World Cup ownership if you'd like to.

To the women's T20 World Cup, now the logo reads, it starts 12th of June, 2026, and indeed it does England,

the host for that, and we'll have it all for you on Test Match Special.

So yeah, nice little nod towards the next little phase of things.

I mean, what is remarkable now as you look at the last few tournaments that we've seen across the ICC events,

men's and women's over the course of the last 12 months, 18 months, you see them won that T20 World Cup in the UAE,

but otherwise dominated by Indian cricket men's and women's, which is a rather strong indication of the success

and the performances that we've seen from Indian cricket more generally in recent times in white ball cricket,

and how much credit should go to to everything that is being done in Indian cricket and what they're doing.

Not far away from hearing from the captains.

New Zealand and their Skipper Mitch Santler, well, it's going to be disappointment again.

And a fifth ICC final in the space of 11 years, Stephen, and once again, they fall short of the final hurdle.

They do, they still deserve credit for being as consistent as they have been in making those finals.

They'll be bitterly disappointed that they weren't able to go one better.

There was a lot stacked against them today, conditions that the crowd, everything was stacked against them, I think.

So they had to play the perfect game, they didn't quite start as well as they'd have liked.

And they'll be super disappointed because not to have lifted a trophy in those five appearances.

They're just going to have to keep plugging away for the resources that they have, for the population that they have,

for the money that they receive, they continually punch above their weight and they deserve a lot of credit.

Yeah, they do, and they will get opportunities again, no doubt about that.

And there's no question that they are worthy, finally.

So their route was a somewhat secute as one and required other results to go there.

And whoever offered that is the case in tournament sport.

Whatever credit you give them is not going to be enough from such a small population to keep producing such talented cricketers.

And just to compete at this level and compete so consistently, I think no team, I mean, in the last 10 or 11 years,

has been as consistent as them to reach the semi-final and finals.

Yeah, it's a shame that five times they've not managed to cross that line, but there will be a time when they will,

because if they keep doing what they're doing, the way their cricket is being played and the talent they are producing,

it won't be too long since they lift an ICC event.

Surely not, and they'll keep plugging away, no doubt.

The question is, who's going to stop India?

Because they now too, as a team that has got over the line after that long drought between 2013 and 2024,

they now look like a sergeant, it's going to be very hard to stop when it comes to why ball cricket and it will be them

that are the team people are looking to take down in the World Cup that comes in 2027 in the 50 over 4 mountains South Africa,

Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Well, let's hear it from the captains then.

First up, the losing skipper of New Zealand, Miche Santa.

And shortly after that, we'll be hearing from Siria Kumar Yara, but here is Miche Santa first up.

It's a difficult time to know this interview, but you can be so proud of what you achieved.

What are your thoughts just now?

Yeah, firstly that's it, I think, proud of the boys to make it this far.

Obviously, we had some challenges throughout the tournament, but at each stage, we kind of got through and put on a good show.

Tonight we were outplayed by a very good team in front of a great crowd, so yeah, but I guess proud of the boys.

Must make you wonderful that when the New Zealand players come up here in Namibia, you get such a wonderful innovation.

Yeah, I mean, most games we play, it's always a great crowd and to see a big sea of blue out there was obviously wet.

The home favourites, but yeah, I mean, credit's India to win a title at home, as always, it comes with a lot of pressures and I think, you know,

Sky and the boys should be pretty, very, very proud of their work.

You couldn't have come so far in this tournament without doing a lot of things right.

Finland, Tim Saifert, yourself, what in your opinion did you do right in this tournament?

Yeah, I think we, you know, different guys stepped up at different times throughout every stage.

I think we're confronted with, you know, challenges throughout every stage and, you know, it was nice to obviously get through.

And, you know, obviously, super rates and then the semi-final we put on a pretty good show and I guess tonight we were outplayed,

but yeah, again, I think the boys should be very proud of their work.

You're always there and you're a very popular team in this part of the world, I wish you well, Mitch.

Cheers, Asha.

Cheers. There you go.

Mid-Santana, captain of New Zealand.

Come along, Syria. Come along.

Has it sunk in that you've created history the first home team to win?

The first team to retain the title?

Has it sunk in?

I think it'll take a little bit of time, but definitely very happy with what has happened today.

It has been a long journey.

I started post-2024 World Cup when BCCI at that time,

J.Bai, that time secretary, Rohit Bhai and everyone, they showed faith in me,

gave me an opportunity to lead this wonderful side and then it was a long, long, long cycle coming here again

that the Sweden are in the both of the stadium and doing it, I think it's a special feeling.

How do you keep the pressure of being favourites over everyone's talking about India being favourites?

Was that the conversation in the dressing room as well, saying we are front runners, we'll do it?

I think we knew that we were playing some good cricket throughout the two years and it was going really well.

We just wanted to follow all the good habits which we followed in 2014-20 World Cup.

Tell the boys the same thing, what is the feeling of winning a World Cup?

How do we want to play in the bilateral series that taste, which we want to take forward and go on to play a T-20 World Cup?

I think that was actually invite by everyone to the team and boys, boys took it really well.

It was particularly admirable that you kept faith with players.

Whether it was Varun Chakravati, whether it was Abhishek Sharma, whether it was Sanju Sampson.

I think it's really important to understand what they are capable of and I knew they had the match winners in them.

I think the timing was perfect for Sanju to come in.

Varun Chakravati, Abhishek Sharma, World No. 1 players, we always knew that they had something special.

No biggest stage then a final to do something and also especially how Jaspreet Bumra, Haddic Pandya, Akser Patel,

they have been in the circuit for a really long time, taking care of each other with all the support staff.

I think it was very, very special.

Tell me how it is to have that magician Bumra in your side?

That's what I said, like how Sanju said in the last game he wanted to give his man of the match to Jaspreet Bumra.

One citizen's generation bowler, I can call him as a national treasure right now, but he knows what needs to be done.

How it needs to be done the best in the business and hopefully he keeps doing that.

They are all looking here, they are all looking here, they are waiting for you to go there.

Suriya Kumar, you are the captain of India, it must be a fantastic feeling.

And now you can go and receive your trophy from Mr. Jaspreet, the person of the ICC.

And well done, thank you, thank you Ahmedabad.

And this is the moment that you wait for in your career.

In front of your own crowd, Suriya Kumar Yadav and team India.

Prakash, I'm going to give the final word to you because you've seen the scenes out there.

What have you taken from this and how do you reflect as a really proud fan?

Not just of Indian cricket but a proud fan of cricket.

Indeed, I think this tournament has done a lot for the game above all.

We've talked about the spreading of the game, we saw some of the teams that have been

adjectives used for them, probably need to be reconsidered.

Now we saw them compete really well, it's gone through a lot of to change in turmoil.

We've they ran some of the established sides really close.

Also, I think the fact that it's ending in a manner where it's been played in great spirit.

Tournament began with a lot of controversy around it.

That's all behind us and I think it propels the game forward.

And as you said, come June and July we will see in the summer in England.

The women take on.

I think as a sport, the widening of it, the growth of it, the emergence of young talent.

All of that is wonderful.

But for a moment from an Indian fans perspective, for me, this is now beginning to build

on what Roy Sharma has kept and began.

Fearless cricket, players a team, we win together, we lose together.

And long way that continue from an Indian fans perspective.

Well, thanks to Stephen Fearn, Abhishek, John Jowella and Prakashra Canker.

That's it for this episode of the TMS podcast.

Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode and test match special.

We'll be with you for every ball of the way for what's going to be a brilliant summer.

England hosting the women's T20 World Cup as well as series against New Zealand and India.

England's men are hosting New Zealand, the Pakistan for test series and white all series as well against tonight's winners.

India and also Sri Lanka so much cricket on the horizon on TMS and on the BBC.

Thank you so much for listening.

We'll speak to you next time.

The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

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