Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 9 (ANI): Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav expressed delight at Team India's T20 World Cup 2026 final win over New Zealand and hailed it as an 'important victory'. He also expressed happiness for Indian opener Sanju Samson's recent success.

India, led by Suryakumar Yadav, defeated the Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand by a huge 96-run margin to defend their T20 World Cup title. With the win, India became the first team to win the T20 World Cup at home, the first team to win it back-to-back after securing the 2024 edition as well and also became the first team to win it three times (2007, 2024, 2026).

Speaking to ANI, Kuldeep Yadav, who featured in India's group-stage match against Pakistan at the T20 WC, described the victory as very important, saying the team had been preparing for the tournament for a long time and that winning an ICC trophy is always the ultimate goal. He congratulated his teammates and thanked the fans for their support, while also expressing happiness for Sanju Samson, noting that he has known him since their Under-12 days and is pleased to see his hard work finally paying off.

'It was an important victory. The tournament for us went very well, and we were preparing for this for a very long time. This is what you play cricket for. Every time you participate in an ICC tournament, you want to win the trophy. I congratulate the team and also thank the fans for supporting us. I am very happy for Sanju Samson, who performed very well. I have shared my cricketing journey with him since the Under-12s, and I am very happy to see him get the rewards of his hard work over the years.'

Sanju Samson's 89 off 46 balls at the top of the order, along with contributions from Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shivam Dube, helped India post a mammoth 254 in the first innings. Samson's innings was the top score by anyone in the match. Notably, this marked the third successive fifty and a match-defining innings from Samson's bat. He also scored an unbeaten 97 in a do-or-die Super 8s clash against West Indies and then scored 89 against England in the semifinals. What makes Samson's success even more remarkable is that his place in the playing 11 was being questioned by fans and cricket experts following a string of low scores in the World Cup before the West Indies innings.

In the T20 WC final, NZ won the toss and elected to field first. However, a return-to-form, record-breaking fifty from Abhishek Sharma (52 in 21 balls, with six fours and three sixes) and his 98-run stand with Samson made NZ regret the decision. Later, Samson stitched a century stand with Ishan Kishan (54 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) to take India past the 200-run mark in the 16th over. After a brief slowdown, Shivam Dube (26* in eight balls, with three fours and two sixes) made some valuable runs to take India to 255/5, the highest total in T20WC finals.

James Neesham (3/46) was the leading wicket-taker for NZ.

In the run-chase of 256 runs, Axar Patel (3/23) and Jasprit Bumrah (4/15) reduced the Kiwis to 72/5, despite a half-century from Tim Seifert (52 in 26 balls, with two fours and five sixes). Despite a brief partnership between Daryl Mitchell (17) and skipper Mitchell Santner (43 in 35 balls, with three fours and two sixes), India kept chipping in with wickets, and the Kiwis were bundled out for just 159 runs. (ANI)