New Zealand national cricket team captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and chose to field against the India national cricket team in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 8, 2026. Santner said the pitch appeared to have a slight grass covering and his side preferred to chase under the conditions.
“We are going to bowl first. It looks like a good surface with a tinge of grass, so we’ll see if it does anything early on,” Santner said at the toss. “India have a lot of power in their lineup, so we’ll try to restrict them to a chaseable score.”
New Zealand made one change to its lineup, bringing in Jacob Duffy in place of Cole McConchie to strengthen the pace attack.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav said he was comfortable batting first, noting that his team had been successful while setting totals during the tournament. “Happy to bat first since we have been doing that pretty well. It’s always good to have runs on the board in a semifinal or a final,” Suryakumar said.
India named an unchanged playing XI for the title clash, sticking with the same team that defeated England in the semifinal.
The final marks the culmination of the month-long tournament, with both teams arriving after convincing semifinal victories. India defeated England by seven runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, while New Zealand advanced with a nine-wicket win over South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Playing XIs
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.
New Zealand: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner (capt), Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy.
