Veni, Vidi, Vici

GH stays up to watches India come, see and conquer the T20 World Cup

Welcome to the enclave

India have retained the T20 World Cup after a final in which the hosts made bowling look like one of those occupations shortly to be rendered obsolete by AI. Their five for 255 included eighteen sixes and nineteen fours - the third highest in the tournament’s history, and the highest in a final by almost an extra dimension. New Zealand, who did so well to advance from the toughest group and through the more demanding semi-final, performed the same role as the Washington Generals used to perform for the Harlem Globetrotters.

For India, Sanju Samson, Abishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan reached half centuries in thirty-three, eighteen and twenty-three deliveries respectively, while Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets with his fiendish slower ball in a 96-run victory that made them the first team to win the trophy at home. The members of Suryakumar Yadav’s team, of course, know what it takes to win this format. They have not lost a T20 series since 2023, they dropped only one game this last month, and the second best T20 team in the world are arguably India’s seconds.

When Pete and I were last in Ahmedabad, our favourite feature of Narendra Modi Stadium was a wall and portal near the press box without an accompanying room - a door to nowhere.

The door to nowhere

It came to mind when Mitchell Santner won the toss and stepped through his door to nowhere by sending India in on a pitch mingling red and black soil, resembling kitchen linoleum, and offering about as much assistance. It seemed strange; it was strange; likewise New Zealand’s pace-off powerplay strategy, which remained inflexibly unsuccessful.