The India-New Zealand cricket rivalry in T20s is littered with extremes, from towering totals to tame collapses, as evidenced ahead of their T20 World Cup 2026 showdown in Ahmedabad.
Rewind to January 31, 2026, Thiruvananthapuram: India scripted history with 271/5. Ishan Kishan’s 103 (43 balls, 6×4, 10×6) was a spectacle, matched by Suryakumar Yadav’s 63 (30 balls, 4×4, 6×6) and Hardik Pandya’s 42.
Finn Allen’s 80 (38) gave NZ hope, Ish Sodhi added 33, but Arshdeep Singh’s 5-wicket haul for 51 runs triggered a collapse to 225 in 19.4 overs. India won by 46 runs.
In stark contrast, February 1, 2023, in Ahmedabad saw NZ’s ODI debacle. India reached 234/4 on Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 126 (63 balls, 12×4, 7×6) and Rahul Tripathi’s 44.
NZ’s batting imploded to 66 in 12.1 overs, with Daryl Mitchell (35) and Mitchell Santner (13) as top scores. Hardik Pandya’s lethal 4/16, plus twin strikes from Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, and Shivam Mavi, handed India a 168-run victory.
Such records amplify the excitement for the upcoming final, promising edge-of-the-seat action.