India beat New Zealand by 96 runs to retain T20 World Cup title


India beat New Zealand by 96 runs in the final to become the first team to retain the men’s Twenty20 World Cup title at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

Put in to bat, India capitalised on a 98-run opening stand between Sanju Samson (89) and Abhishek Sharma (52) to rack up 255-5.

Number three Ishan Kishan smashed 54, but James Neesham bowled a three-wicket over to apply the brakes on India’s scoring rate towards the end of the innings.

Chasing such a daunting target, New Zealand could not recover from a top-order collapse and were all out for 159 in 19 overs despite defiant knocks by Tim Seifert (52) and Mitchell Santner (43).