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India are in the T20 World Cup Final. India won against England in the seimifnal 1 match that took place at wankhede stadium. Indian team will now face New Zealand in the final match to be played at narendra modi stadoum on the 8th of march.
The match was not won convincingly by India. England took Suryakumar Yadav's side to the edge, and there were moments in the match when it looked like the match could have gone either way. But a win is a win and India are in the next round, which is all that matters at this point in time. What doesn't quite go away is the way this tournament has been. Because if you paid attention to the ODI World Cup 2023, the last few weeks of this tournament will look uncomfortably familiar. Not sort of familiar. Familiar in a way that is almost too convenient to be true.
South Africa just cannot win in Kolkata
South Africa came to Kolkata in 2023 with genuine belief. They had played well enough across that tournament to think they could go all the way. Then they played their semi-final aagainst Australia at Eden Gardens and that was that. Tournament over, bags packed, flight home.
Three years later, they returned to the same city, the same ground, the same stage of the same tournament. Different format, different year, different opponent. Finn Allen came out and made a century off 33 and South Africa went home again.
There is a point where you stop saying it is a coincidence. Kolkata has become the place where South Africa's World Cup aspirations quietly come to an end, and in 2026, it happened exactly as per schedule.
The Wankhede always sends India through
Rohit Sharma's side played their semi-final at the Wankhede in 2023, against New Zealand. Kohli scored his 50th international century. India scored 397. Shami took seven wickets. New Zealand was blown away and Men in Blue left Mumbai that night feeling completely untouchable, a team that had already won the tournament, waiting only for the formality of the final.
Wednesday was nothing like that in terms of how it felt but everything like that in terms of how it produced. England was uncomfortable opponents. The bowling leaked at stages. Seven runs separated the two sides at the end, and it was close enough that nobody in that ground was ever comfortable until the very last moment. But Men in Blue won and they walked out of the Wankhede again, this time for the second time in three years, heading to a global final with that specific Mumbai feeling carrying them into the week.
The Wankhede has now launched Men in Blue into two consecutive World Cup finals. Same ground, same city, same result, both times pointing directly toward Ahmedabad.
Ahmedabad has seen this story before
The Narendra Modi Stadium is the venue for the ODI World Cup Final 2023 and Indian team came into the game having won all of the matches in the tournament, eleven out of eleven, with the whole country expecting the World Cup, and 130,000 people packed into the largest cricket ground in the world, all of whom knew how the night was going to end.
Travis Head played as if all of this was of no consequence, and Australia won the game, with host team losing the World Cup Final on home soil having done everything correctly for six weeks, and it is one of the most painful nights Indian cricket has had to sit with.
Same ground awaits on March 8, with the same massive outfield, the same massive boundaries, and the same dressing rooms, with New Zealand coming in as the away team with no history, no pressure and no expectation, having played no game at this venue, with Finn Allen having hit a 33-ball century in the semi-final and this New Zealand team is certainly not coming to Ahmedabad to make up the numbers.
The pattern in these two tournaments has been the same. Kolkata eliminated South Africa. Wankhede Stadium took India forward. Ahmedabad is hosting the finals. The final of the 2023 tournament was heart-wrenching.
In 2026, the same has happened again. One thing is yet to happen, and unlike the other instances in this pattern, it has not been determined yet. Men in Blue knows the ground better than anybody else when it does not favor them. However, the question on March 8 will be if it is a reminder or a motivation.
