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Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has arrived in Ahmedabad on Sunday morning as the Indian team is set to clash with New Zealand in the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
The 44-year-old witnessed India's semi-final victory over England at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and may come to watch the final match as Men in Blue will be defending their title. Dhoni came to watch the semi-final match in Mumbai with his wife Sakshi, along with many other celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Anil Kapoor. From the cricket community, the wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, who led India to the 2024 T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy 2025, also witnessed India beating England in a close contest. India won their first-ever ICC Men's T20 World Cup title under MS Dhoni's leadership in 2007, when India defeated Pakistan in the final to claim the inaugural trophy. Now, the onus is on the Suryakumar Yadav-led side to repeat the same and become the first team to win the trophy in front of the home crowd. The Black Caps are also eyeing their maiden title after finishing as runners-up in the 2021 edition. Going into the final, India are chasing a few firsts - first to defend a T20 World Cup title, first host team to win the T20 World Cup and the first to three T20 World Cup championships. For New Zealand, the biggest challenges will be how to keep the star-studded Indian batting line-up relatively quiet and how to deal with Jasprit Bumrah's unerring line and length. India and New Zealand took contrasting paths to the final; they entered the contest on the back of strong batting performances in the semi-final. New Zealand lost to South Africa in the group stage and to England in the Super Eights, but were dominant in the final four. After restricting the Proteas to 169/8, New Zealand raced to a nine-wicket win in 12.5 overs, courtesy of a stunning 33-ball hundred by Finn Allen, the fastest in T20 World Cups. Meanwhile, for India, who were perfect in the group stage, the only blip was the loss to South Africa in the opening Super Eight contest. The semi-final against England was a high-scoring thriller, with India piling on 253/7 and England falling just seven runs short. In their head-to-head clashes, history may favour New Zealand, but form is with India. The Black Caps have not lost a match to India in the T20 World Cup, having scored victories in 2007, 2016 and 2021. However, the host nation were dominant in their recent T20I series in India, with a comfortable 4-1 win. Squads: New Zealand Squad: Tim Seifert(w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner(c), Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Devon Conway, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy. India Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)
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