The 2026 T20 World Cup Debrief

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You're listening to the TMS Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

Hello and welcome to the Test Match Special Podcast. It is the morning after the night before here in Ahmedabad. India, T20 World Cup champions again. And what a tournament it has been. 29 days, 55 matches. At the end of it all, the first side to retain the trophy, the first team to win it on home soil as well. So much to discuss from what has been an enthralling month. You're listening to the TMS Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Well, hello from steamy Ahmedabad. Henry Moran here alongside BBC Sports' Matt Henry and Prakash Wakanka as well. It is a day where India is waking up, smiles on faces, headlines such as India standing alone at the top after a T20 World Cup win that delivered a storm of all-time records. That's what the Hindustan Times said. From the Times of India, India win the T20 World Cup. One triumph, many heroes. T20 World Cup final, a red-letter day for Suryakumar's men in blue. So many headlines to celebrate what is a marvelous achievement, and what a victory it was. Prakash, first of all to you, it was as good a day as India could have dreamt of. 96 runs is about rageous margin of victory.

It is, and I think in that sense India did save, it seems, their best for the last. It was the biggest margin of victory for India in the tournament, you would say. It was probably one of the most dominating wins, and in some ways therefore maybe not quite the final people wanted, but I doubt if the majority of Indian supporters would have a problem with that because the result went their way and wiped out some of the memories of '23.

Statistically speaking, it is their biggest victory in the history of T20 World Cups. It's New Zealand's biggest defeat as well. If you missed it, well, India smashed 255 for 5 and New Zealand beaten by 96 runs, desperately trying to somehow give themselves a foothold in the game. Now, Matt, you were there in the bowels of the Narendra Modi Stadium until the wee hours. Press conferences that came about quite a long time after the trophy lift. Which was quite a long time after the end of the game.

Yeah, I think Mitchell Santner turned up for his press conference maybe an hour and 15 minutes after the last ball, which is— it can't have been a nice situation for him, I doubt. There's a lot of standing around and waiting. We had light shows and various events going on, drone shows going on after play. But yeah, I think Mitchell Santner, he seemed quite matter-of-fact. Without meaning to be too down on New Zealand, they're a bit used to this situation, aren't they? They're used to losing finals. They—

he's—

well, New Zealand have lost ones in what, 2015, 2019, 2021, and then 2024 in the Champions Trophy. Yeah, 25 in the Champions Trophy.

Sorry, it's a 5th. It's a 5th final and a 5th defeat in 11 years.

Yeah, which is obviously has given them experience of knowing how this feels. I felt like Santa was quite disappointed in the way his team had played yesterday. They didn't bowl particularly well, I think it is fair to say. They didn't field great as well, dropped a couple of catches. But it was those wides early on that just sort of released any sort of pressure. The first two overs, it's easy to forget now that the first two overs did actually go okay for New Zealand. I think there were 5 dot balls in the first over. Samson got Mike Henry away for 1 for 6. Then I think the second over went for 5. And then after that, it was one-way traffic.

Well, it was rather, and 92 without loss at the end of 6 overs after those 8 wides in there as well. So actually 7.2 overs once you factor that in. It's the joint most runs ever scored in a T20 World Cup match. Power play, the stats just keep on rolling, Prakash. No side scored more than the 255 in a T20 World Cup knockout match. But more than that, as if to underline India's dominance, They passed 250 3 times in the tournament.

Yeah, they did. And like I said earlier, by doing that in the semi-final and the final, it couldn't have been better scripted. India began shakily, we all know that. That USA game which we covered wasn't exactly their perfect game. But I think somehow that defeat to South Africa, I think, acted as the perfect catalyst. They fielded poorly in that game. They knew they were subpar. And thereafter, for the 3 games that India played, I think they were a different side. Maybe it was the sort of almost kick in the backside, if you will, a wake-up call. And then they just found a new gear at which to play. And that, I think, allowed them to sort of scale the peak that they were hoping for. And for once, they peaked at the right time.

Yeah, 5 instances of 250 being scored in the T20 World Cup, 3 have been by India in this tournament. With their backs really against the wall since that defeat to South Africa. So if you're ever going to perform under pressure, it's a perfect example of it and why they are, despite losing to South Africa, as we've said, very worthy winners if you can do that under pressure.

What was the streets like at 2:30, 3 AM on your way home last night?

It was quieter than I imagined it was when you left, but still India shirts everywhere, people everywhere, sort of a bit of I don't know, some people celebrating, other people sort of out sweeping the streets trying to get it back in shape after what I imagine were the celebrations immediately after the final wicket fell. Yeah, it was good. Took me a little while to find a taxi, but let's not complain.

Well, it was a special night, and certainly for India, a really special way to conclude what's been a brilliant month of cricket. I think it has. The more I think about this tournament, Prakash, No sports event is ever perfect. There were some dud games, but there weren't that many of them.

Much, much in the minority, weren't there? I mean, you, you think about the way this tournament's gone. We touched upon that off-air as well. The fact that this was an expanded tournament, you had that many teams, you had more nations represented, and their ability and their hunger to come out and perform, compete against the best in the game, the individual performances spurring them on, whether it's a Benett or Sikandar Raza for Zimbabwe, or somebody else for Namibia or for the USA. Remember what these Zimbabweans achieved against Australia. All of these things I think added to the charm of the tournament. The fact that the sport that we love may be finally heading towards being a little more global than being restricted to a smaller group. And I think that can only be good for the game. Both men's and women's cricket I think is now expanding, and long may that continue because there will come a day, I hope, when we can talk about cricket, not quite in the same vein as we do about football. That'll probably never happen. But to get more and more nations, more diversity and more skills and more techniques and more new things, that's what the name of the game is. And cricket's headed that way. In my view, this tournament certainly played its role.

Yeah, because this is the second of those 20-team T20 World Cups we've had. The first one was 2024 in the Caribbean, and that one was great. I loved working on that tournament. But there were still some very one-sided games there. We had that spell where Lochie Ferguson bowled 4 overs, 4 maidens, and that sort of thing, and some, and some very low scores made by the lower-ranked teams. Here it's been very, very competitive all the way throughout, and almost the Super 8 stage in some ways was a bit of a letdown after all the entertainment we had at the start. It's helped that we've had 2— well, One very good match in the semi-final, the England-Indy game, which was a brilliant game of cricket. We had a very impressive match, even though one-sided, between New Zealand and South Africa. And then India's run at the back end of that Super 8 sort of lifted the Super 8s a little bit towards the back end. I will always still bang the drum for more knockout matches, get to quarterfinals sooner. If that means scrapping the Super 8s, then so be it. We've seen that the group stage now is a competitive and a part of the tournament in its own right. It used to sort of just be the build-up that got us to the point where the so-called bigger teams or the higher-ranked teams were then competing against each other. It was almost a vehicle to get to that point. That's not the case anymore because as we've seen, the lower-ranked teams can beat the higher-ranked teams. So let's almost champion that early part of the tournament, get into some knockouts and then really put the cat amongst the pigeons from there.

You look back at the start of the competition, third game of the tournament, India given a real fright by the USA. England win by just 4 runs against Nepal. Both those matches we were lucky enough to be at in Mumbai. There was the double super over here in Ahmedabad between South Africa and Afghanistan. Italy's 10-wicket win for their first T20 World Cup victory against Nepal in their first appearance. Been brilliant matches and some compelling stories and narratives of teams coming from seemingly nowhere but really performing well.

Absolutely. And as I said earlier, I just feel that if these nations get more opportunities— and there's a lot of talk about how this can be achieved— you're going to play a permanent or a senior-ranked team or a higher-ranked team on the way. What's the geography? Can you stop by and play a game in Namibia or in Zimbabwe when they're going to South Africa, or play a game against one of the European teams if you're touring England, and so on and so forth. I think that needs to become part of the mandate almost, even if it's bilateral, even if it's not necessarily part of the WTC cycle. I think the more established teams need to do their bit. And I actually— well, I've said this before once, and I don't know anyone will ever take me up on it— but I think there's almost a case to think about whether The bigger T20 franchise leagues can almost put together a side which is sort of a representative of the rest of the world. There was a time when there used to be sort of the best team in Test match cricket playing the rest of the world Test team. Why not in T20 cricket? Why not get a team together which has representation, maybe your continental level or whatever, and just make it into something which gives more opportunities and more heroes and more, you know, aspiration and more idols for people to follow in some of the countries where cricket isn't yet quite where they would like it to be.

I think the other factor in all of this is so much conversation about weather in the women's tournament that was played in this part of the world in the autumn, Matt, with all those games that were washed out in Sri Lanka, but only 2 games lost to the weather in this competition out of 55. And you play tournaments anywhere, Australia, England, South Africa, you're going to expect a few to fall by the wayside. But that really helped the momentum.

Yeah, momentum is the key thing there, doesn't it? Because we had it, everyone forgets back in 2019 in England where we had that week where it never stopped raining in Bristol and the Southwest and we had games wiped out. But yeah, it's allowed the tournament to get a nice flow to keep going. I do think one little issue I've had, and it kind of goes back to that Super 8s point, it felt like a very long time between England securing their place in the semi-final and their next match of consequence, which then wasn't until I think it was 9 days between England beating Pakistan and then that semi-final against India, which almost just fights against it and leaves you like stalls a little bit, which I guess goes back to that point about quarterfinals without meaning to bang the same drum again.

Yeah, there is sort of the perennial issue of context, but compared to the 50-over World Cup where it feels as though in some parallel universe that 2023 tournament is still ongoing somewhere with various group matches taking place and so many games where you sort of knew the outcome before they started. And we sort of knew who the semi-finalists were going to be. But Prakash, this part of the world, T20 is king. Let's make no mistake with the IPL. And there is just that feeling perhaps that T20 cricket does create a closer, more exciting tournament possibly. And I love 50-over cricket. And for me, the World Cup will always be the 50-over World Cup. But this tournament, as much as any other, has really underlined how good T20 tournaments can be.

Yes, I think, I think fan support is the key. I think for a lot of people today, the 50-over World Cup— many will still believe what you said. I agree with you, it is the World Cup of white-ball cricket for me as well. But I think the amount of time that a spectator has to invest in that is becoming harder and harder. And so you're going to find situations where you You know, people find it easy to go for a 3.5-4 hour game, go out with the family, have a nice evening. If you're in a proper city, you might be able to go out and have dinner before or after, have a drink or two, except if you're in Ahmedabad. But the fact of the matter is that it's a family outing. ODI cricket, 50-over cricket still means practically the whole day, albeit often the second half of the day. And therefore, I think watching on television and television viewership Probably 50-over cricket is still very much there, but I think from an engagement with the public, short, sharp, exciting, a lot of razzmatazz. Many will argue some of it totally unnecessary, but it's there and people love it because they come out there, they dance, they came, they paint their faces, they do all that kind of stuff. And I think it's short and sharp, and this world is moving towards more and more instant gratification, and that's what T20 cricket is delivering.

What I think we need plenty more of is Ricky Martin. Performed at the final of the tournament. Actually, think about it, Living la Vida Loca came about 4 years before T20 cricket did. So there you go. If you heard that enormous horn in the background, by the way, we're not standing on some sort of alpine hill with somebody about to break into some yodeling. We're actually right next to a railway station and a train trundling in towards Ahmedabad. So that's the good of the tournament, Matt, and we're going to get on to England's report card shortly. But The tournament more broadly, what do you think could have been done better and what has not quite worked?

It's a good question. Aside from the scheduling sort of part of it and the structure of the tournament that I've mentioned, it's hard to forget all the issues that were around the India-Pakistan game at the start and what that meant and the distraction that that took away from the cricket in the first week of the tournament to some extent. Frustrating that we— and there are so many reasons for it, and it's such a big picture and goes far above all of us, and it's such a tricky topic to sort of— not to debate, but to sort of find the right answer to, because there are so many different parts of it. But that issue still hangs over cricket, and that is not particularly healthy for the sport. I was encouraged to see we haven't got the statistics for the final yet, but the, um, the stats came out the last couple of days for the viewership of the semi-finals, particularly the England against India semi-final, and that was the most streamed match ever in India, I think, which shows— I took from that that maybe we don't have to be as reliant on that India-Pakistan fixture anymore.

Does—

is this proof that if good cricket will— because ultimately there are always there's money that needs to be made in these tournaments to make the world go round and to make the game work. And India-Pakistan for so long has been such a big part of that fixture. I would hope that those numbers that we got from a brilliant semifinal between England and India, a knockout match, I'd like to point that out again, banging the same drum, that proves that maybe we don't have to be as reliant on one fixture. It's still going to be crucial. It always will be. But hopefully that shows that championing cricket can be the way forward. Good cricket.

You'd agree?

I completely agree. Look, I think it's time— I've said this before as well, Henry— I think it's time that the ICC got whatever their method is, got together and simply passed a— if it's unanimous, even better— but a resolution which says, look, tournaments will be awarded to hosts or co-hosts, whatever that story may be. And once it's announced, there will be a qualification based on whatever criteria teams will be asked. Teams have to sign up unequivocally and say, these are the hosts we know, we will go and play where we are told to. If they sign up, that's great. If they don't, you say, thank you very much, we'll see you the next edition, get the next in line and go on with it. No more pandering to A, B, C, or D for anything. The only way that this can go forward in my opinion. The sooner they can do it, the better. I understand the economics, I understand the, the hype of a particular fixture, but I think it's time we moved on from there. I think Matt makes a very good point about the viewership. I think good cricket, competitive cricket, consistently competitive cricket will always draw eyeballs and will give you the revenues and the viewership you want, or the listenership for that matter. And I feel that it's time to move on now from all these previous sort of fixed notions that this has to happen in a particular way. I don't think it needs to, and we need to move on as a cricketing-loving organization. The ICC needs to just now get their act together on this and move on from there.

Yeah, and it is going to happen naturally a little bit now, isn't it? So we've had a lot of tournaments in Asia in the last few years, men's and women's. The next T20 World Cup on the women's side is in England this summer. Then we've got the next 50-over World Cup in South Africa, the men's 50-over World Cup in 2027, and then the T20 World Cup after that, the men's one, is in Australia and New Zealand. So the issue of India traveling to Pakistan, Pakistan traveling to India, is not going to come up as much for the next little while, which hopefully will help matters. It's also interesting as well because since last night there's been a lot of talk about how is the world ever going to keep— the cricketing world going to keep up with India, they're just going to dominate forever now. And we cycles like this have happened before. Australia were very dominant for 3 50-over World Cups in a row. It will be interesting to see whether India can keep this up in those other venues and those other countries that I've mentioned. It has fallen quite nicely, and I wrote a piece last night after the game, after the final, pointing this out that yes, India have been dominant in the last— well, since 2023, since the end of that '23 final, that they lost since then, but they had a home World Cup in India, 50-over. They had one in the Caribbean on very slow, low-turning pitches, which really suited their spinners, particularly in that semi-final against England. They then had a Champions Trophy in Dubai, where India played all the matches at home, and they're very used to playing in Dubai as well. And then they've had another T20 World Cup at home here, so, as well as Sri Lanka. So yes, India have been brilliant. They've been dominant. Conditions have helped them a little bit, which is just the way it goes sometimes. That's not a criticism of India at all. They've done brilliantly to do that. So now it'll be interesting. And the one thing the rest of the world can sort of cling to and hope, hope that may bring them back into it in those next few tournaments is that now India are going to have to go and do it in Australia. They're going to have to go and do it in South Africa, South Africa, and then there's an Olympics as well in America in 2028, which we'll see how that goes. I've no idea what the pitches are going to be like that. So whatever the history of cricket in Los Angeles is going to be like, or what those pitches are going to turn up like, who knows? But yeah, it should be interesting and we'll just see how that all plays out.

One thing I'm going to throw in there as a little bit of a negative is I think for overseas fans, tournaments need to be better organized in terms of when matches are happening and fixtures are released. I did a little bit of research yesterday and lead-in time ahead of the Women's World Cup in India this last year was 4 months. So tickets were released about 2 months beforehand. This tournament, similar lead-in time. It was less than 3 months for the 2023 edition. The night before the semifinal at 6 p.m., there was a mad rush of tickets that were suddenly released. It is nigh on impossible for overseas fans to travel with any consistency and confidence in where fixtures are going to be and when they're going to be. And I think that is something that the tournament organisers need to mandate, as you are going to release the fixture 6 months ahead of time because it is just too difficult. And part of what makes major sporting events so brilliant is when you've got fans coming together and enjoying themselves side by side. And I think It's too easy to think, well, we're just going to fill the stands regardless because people love cricket. You've got to think about what actually is creating the best spectacle and best opportunity for fans from around the world to come and watch the matches. Right, we are going to get on to England shortly, but just a little reminder to subscribe to the Test Match Special podcast on BBC Sounds. Just hit that subscribe button and you'll get your notifications. Make sure that you'll never miss anything. And there is so much to look forward to over the course of the next few weeks and months. A full international summer, a Women's T20 World Cup beginning on June 12th. You'll hear it all across the BBC. And for an England side, the men's side at least, it is a packed schedule to conclude what has been a packed winter, if you like. It seems to seamlessly go from one to the other, and we're going to reflect on England's World Cup in just The TMS Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. So England beaten semifinalists but come out of the tournament with a fair degree of credit, all things being relative, Matt. Considering how they left Australia after the Ashes, how they leave India, albeit leaving India a couple of days after they might have done with the travel disruption and everything else, they had a reasonable tournament as beaten semifinalists.

I think so. We were deciding whether to give it a report card and I'd say probably a B, not much more than that, but a decent showing. I mean, it's one of those tournaments that one of those performances overall that you can kind of spin whichever way suits your narrative. I think you can say, well, England never really looked like challenging. They never really threatened in the semi-final, although they did get within 7 runs. Those sixes at the very end from Joffre Archer almost narrowed the margin. A victory then was probably truly reflective. I would urge on the side of, or lean towards the side of being, giving more credit for coming through a lot of tight matches. England in the winter in Australia, whenever it got close, whenever they did have slight opportunities in that series, you go back to Perth on day 2, they threw them away. England have reversed that with this white ball team and they're in tight matches against Nepal, against Scotland, against Italy, against Sri Lanka and against Pakistan and New Zealand. They got the job done under pressure. I think that is a positive thing looking forward. And we have to remember that a year ago, the 50-over team, yes, they came to the Champions Trophy and exited without winning a game. So to have got to a semifinal, it may not be what England fans want, and England need to look to do better in the coming years. They might be helped by the fact that The next tournament is in South Africa. That should suit them better than being on these pitches in India and Sri Lanka. So yeah, I give a slight bit of positivity, but without knowing deep down that it needs to get better. You can't rely on semifinals forever. You've got to be aiming. England as a country have to be aiming higher than that.

I think England did pretty well, as Matt said. As I said, these conditions are not necessarily where they're most comfortable, but they did prepare well this time. That's something that, at least in the press sitting here in India, we read about the preparation or the improper preparation for the Ashes. There was lots of press about all of that. I think they prepared well, they played well, they came through tight games. And you know, oftentimes when we look at our own teams, whether I'm looking at India or you're looking at England or someone else at their own team, we tend to be probably a little bit extra critical. I think oftentimes we forget that there is an opposition that's played as well. And I think in that India-England semi-final, I think it was the Indian performance which really needs to be seen as being better than England's, as opposed to saying England played poorly. It's not that England played poorly. I think India just played that much better on the night. And T20 formats, above all, we all know, are so close that it could be one over here or one over there, one drop catch, one missed opportunity or a brilliant knock by someone for, you know, 8 or 10 overs can change the game. So I don't think you want to be too harsh on England. I do think that the good thing to see was England were not as predictable as we've known them to be in the past. They were flexible. They, you know, Brook coming up to number 3 probably should have happened earlier. Maybe that certainly changed the tempo when they played against New Zealand. I thought young Rahane Ahmed being thrown into that game and hitting those winning runs again showed that there's confidence, there's belief in even the blokes who are sitting on the bench and coming in. So there are a lot of positives. I think oftentimes we as people who obviously understand the game a little bit but are sitting in a very different environment and looking out tend to be critical more of our own teams than we are of the others. And I therefore think I'd go a little bit above where Matt ended up. Matt said B, I'd go B+.

I think you mentioned that the sort of decisions, a few decisions that are made, and I think that's where we are expecting, as you've probably read and heard in the last few days, that Brendan McCullum and Rob Key will keep their jobs after this. Nothing's decided yet, but the suggestion is that they've done enough. I think there are a few points that show that they've made good decisions in this tournament. You take that back, I say in this tournament, but you actually take it back to the start of the cycle. We were both there, Henry. I remember it headingly. Last year in Harry Brook's first press conference, and he spoke about bringing back Liam Dawson straight away. He said, I'm going to be captain. We've got a World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year. I'm bringing back Liam Dawson. That definitely worked. England, the start of 2025, they brought in Tom Banton and they picked him to attack spin in the middle overs. He had one really good innings and a few good contributions as well. That worked. England have picked Will Jacks as a finisher, which On the face of it, it's quite a—

For a guy that's opened for his whole career.

Exactly.

He does it in the Hundred, he does it for Surrey, he does it in the IPL mostly. He's someone that bats at the top of the order and they saw something there that they thought he can be our finisher, a problem position for England for a little while now. And that's absolutely worked so much so that I think he's probably banked that position for the 50-over team as well. So I think you have to give some credit there, plenty of credit there to Brook and to McCullum. We've criticized them through the winter quite rightly. You have to give them a little bit of credit for when it has come up, when they've done things that have come off.

Jacob Bethell as well, 100 in a World Cup semifinal, 22 years old. He's become part of that small club of players that have scored 300s in 3 formats. For England or indeed full stop. So that's a massive positive for England.

Yeah. And that is, we shouldn't forget, despite everything I've said there, how important that innings is in setting the narrative. Because had England conceded 254 against India and then been rolled for 100, we'd be saying very different things.

Well, we would, but I'd counteract that by saying the fact that a player was able to do that and play with that freedom and that mentality tells a story. Similarly, when Harry Brook scored his 100 and there was that real wobble for England. But he went out there as captain and didn't think, oh, I've got to protect my wicket. He said, I'm going to win the game. And that actually just told a bit of a story about the attitude of the team. And I actually think that, you know, you can say, oh, well, he might have got out, but I actually think that's quite an English way of looking at it. Why not think, well, he didn't. He went for it and he's actually shown the way. And I think that's a real positive.

I agree. And I think that's what I mean. I mean, what do you choose to focus on? The players, when they talk, I'm sure they analyze inside their own huddles and groups everything that went well and what didn't go well. From the outside, often I think we tend to focus a little bit more on what didn't go well. We've got to give credit where it's due, like Matt said, whether it's in strategic planning, whether it's in execution, whether it's in decisions that have been taken in the heat of battle, on the spur of the moment, on the park. All of these things matter. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. And in T20 cricket, I think the only way to play is to play to win at all costs. Because whether it's a 7-run loss or a 70-run loss, yes, you can talk about the headlines and what have you, but the result is the same. So you might as well go down and lose by 7 runs rather than try and sort of protect something that you want to protect, or individual player or whatever. T20 is to me a real team game, and I think England And yes, it was Bethell that night. It could have been someone else in another situation. Coming as close as they did, I think there should be absolutely— well, not absolutely, but very little criticism. I think England have come through well, and they were one game away, let's be honest, from winning the tournament. So I think B+ for sure, if not more.

Yeah, Will Jack's 4 Player of the Match awards as well, his bowling as much as anything. And no player in the history of the tournament's collected more across across a single edition. So real, real credit for him. Also, I think you can possibly put a bit of an asterisk around the figures of some of the seam bowlers just because of the fact that we've seen such big scores in the tournament and very few seam bowlers have really, really profited by Jasprit Bumrah, who's been as ever phenomenal. Prakash, you spoke there with nuance and a degree of balance. And in this modern day and age, particularly on social media, that's not allowed. You have to say, England, we're absolutely rubbish or absolutely brilliant. So I'm afraid you're going to have to— you're going to have to try again. But this is the point. We have to look at things with a little bit of balance. And I think your external view is a really interesting one because at the end of the men's Ashes, there was such a sense of negativity and it was all, well, this was terrible, this went wrong and it was horrible and whatever else. But sometimes, as you say, you get to the end of a tournament and think, well, actually, yeah, they did all right there. And I think England will feel, didn't win, didn't necessarily quite perform when they really needed to in that crunch moment, but they did a decent enough job and there's some positives going forward. Is that fair, Matt, just to conclude?

Yeah, I think so. And we can admit that things did go badly wrong in the Ashes and that is what makes in some ways the way that they were able to reset the narrative all the more impressive. That there were, there was so much baggage coming into this tournament. We haven't even mentioned the things that Harry Brook came into this tournament with, the questions he was asked in the lead-up in that series in Sri Lanka around the incident in Wellington. We haven't mentioned that at all yet, and that's because of how they've been able to turn it around since then. And why I think, basically, I think this feels different to 2024 when England lost to a semi-final against India and went out. This feels like a better showing than that one, even though ultimately it is exactly the same.

Yeah, I think that's a very fair assessment. Right then, to wrap things up, let's go for our quickfire round, gents. Uh, answer from each of you on the following. Best innings of the tournament, Prakash?

Finn Allen, semi-final, Kolkata.

Yeah. 100 to beat South Africa?

I will prefer, I prefer innings with a bit more nuance, a bit more jeopardy when the team sort of, the situation is on the line. So then I go either Sanju Samson or in the matches against West Indies in particular when he led that chase, it was effectively a quarterfinal, or Harry Brook against Pakistan. I'll just give it to Samson.

Yeah, I'm going to go Harry Brook. For that innings because it showed a direction of leadership that I thought was very encouraging. What about your wow moment of the tournament, Prakash?

Australia going out, without question. For me, that was the big one because look, Australia, irrespective of all the problems they had coming into the tournament, the injuries to their leading bowlers and all of that, you know that they are such a side, such a country, such a sporting nation, they always find a way. And for them not to make it through and get out of the tournament, or be dumped out of the tournament at the Sri Lanka leg itself, for me was the wow moment in a negative sort of way. The wow moment for me positively was the performance of countries like, particularly of Zimbabwe, who I doff my hat to them. The remarkable resurgence, and I hope that continues for a while.

Can I have one shot? Is that allowed? Harry Brook's shot against New Zealand into the big screen. Am I allowed that one?

Yeah, I think that's a lovely shout. I'm going to go Andrea Bocelli making an appearance in the tournament when Italy won that game against Nepal by 10 wickets, hearing that Andrea Bocelli had sent a message to the squad. A crossover I hadn't anticipated coming into the competition. What about the flattest pitch, Prakash?

Good question. It's a tough one. You know, what is a flat pitch? Is it a pitch where batters play exceptionally well against bowlers who are known to perform extremely well? Or is it a pitch where bowlers have no hope? Because if that's the case, then by and large, all bowlers, whether you're great or ordinary, should go for runs. That's not been the case. I mean, if you look at the two matches that India played where a lot of people are saying they were specially rolled out, as is inevitable of course in the world today, in in Mumbai and in Ahmedabad. Guys like Bumrah, Nisham, his first 3 overs were brilliant. So it's not that there is a flat pitch and bowlers can't do anything. Yes, is it stacked in favor of bowlers or batsmen is a debate we can have. T20 cricket is meant to be a bat-dominated game. That is why we talk about and enjoy it when the ball is doing a lot more. And in the early part of the tournament, both in Sri Lanka and India, we saw the pitches offering a little more. I think as the pitches got older, as the sun baked down, particularly here in India, and they had to make sure that they weren't going to crumble, there was obviously a lot more rolling. So bat-friendly, batting-friendly pitches did turn up towards the latter part of the tournament in the knockout stages. And if I still had to pick one, I would say that Mumbai was probably flatter than even Ahmedabad.

Yeah, I'd maybe go slightly the other way. I'm not sure I saw a ball do anything of note, particularly in the first innings for New Zealand in the final. Probably give it just to that one.

Yeah, I think Mumbai for me. Having seen the Heavy Roller driving up and down, I think the Heavy Roller did put about 3,000 miles on its clock the day before the semi-final in Mumbai. Up and down. It looked absolutely knackered by the end of that.

Shorter boundaries in Mumbai as well.

That's also true. Yeah, no, fair point, Matt. Uh, okay, what about the worst drop, Prakash?

This will surprise you. Uh, again, I'm not going by consequence of the drop or the impact the drop had. If that was the criteria, I think Harry Brook would be right up there. But I think for me, in that condition, uh, it was actually Hardik Pandya's drop at backward point yesterday, which I thought was an absolute shocker for someone of his ability.

We did—

I— so they won earlier in the innings, the Shivam Dubey drop in the very first over. It was kind of missed on the TV pictures how Arshdeep Singh, who was the bowler when the ball was smashed up in the air— it was Finn Allen, wasn't it? Sky to catch, he was on zero, and it didn't really matter in the end— to out to long off. Arshdeep Singh was almost at fine leg celebrating before the ball was halfway off the field.

Yeah, he'd gone—

Allen had gone one way, Arshdeep had gone the other way, both just expecting the catch to be taken, and somehow Dubé dropped it. But I'm not sure that one from Dubé was as bad as Usman Tariq's in the game between England and Pakistan when he dropped Jacob Bethell. That one was a real sitter. I'll go with that one.

I just want to make one other observation. I don't know how right or wrong this is, but depending on the time of day, I'm just casting my mind back to that game at the Eden Gardens. And if you look at it from a ground where matches, catches have been dropped, I think the Eden Gardens in this tournament would probably be right up there. Now, whether it is because of the way the ball comes out of the crowd, whether that's Ahmedabad where again they have that similar ring of fire kind of floodlights, whether that's a cause. But there are certain grounds where sometimes catches go down a lot more than some others, and that may be something to factor into this. But yeah, nobody drops a catch deliberately. And there will always be that story of catchers winning matches. We talk about the greatest catchers of the tournament. We've seen some remarkable ones. So yeah, that's just the way the game is, and that's what it's all about, right? That's why it resembles life. Some things work, some things don't.

I'm gonna go Harry Brook in the semi-final early on. Sanju Samson, 15, goes on to score 89. Uh, potentially, who knows, would England have got through? Maybe not. Someone else might have got the runs, but I almost put it a little bit like the length of Paul Gascoigne's stud when the ball goes across the 6-yard box in extra time of Euro '96 and England almost score a golden goal. It's not quite like that, I know, but it was— it's one of those moments you think, well, what might have been? How might history have gone differently? So I'm going to chuck that one in there. And just finally, best player in the tournament.

That's a tough one, really is, because, you know, recency bias will come in. And with that caveat, honestly, I do think there have been some amazing individual performances, but I am going to go out of script a little bit and actually say the Indian cricket team. And the reason I say that is it's been years coming, but this time I felt that the Indian team played as a team much, much more. Than an individual. There's 7 or 8 key performances through the, through the latter part of the tournament in particular, and right up front as well. And that's why I think for me the best player of the tournament is the Indian cricket team. But if I had to, again, gun to the head, pick one, recency bias very much part of it, Sanju Samson.

It's hard, isn't it, actually, to pick one player from this tournament? There have been a lot of contributes. And this is almost a strength of the Indian team that they— Gautam Gambhir spoke about it last night, the importance of the collective. They don't have necessarily this India team the superstars of previous India teams when you could reel them off when you had Sachin and Dravid and Ganguly in teams, or you had Kohli and Rohit and Jadeja in another team. Jasprit Bumrah is obviously a superstar. Outside of that, I'm not sure there are any real megastars in the same league that Rohit and Kohli and Dhoni, for example. Samson definitely, for the way he has performed under pressure, will be up there. It's hard to ever argue against Bumrah being the best player in any competition he plays in. Doesn't feel like any of his performances have been particularly match-defining, although that over he bowled in the semi-final against England when he only conceded singles right at the death when England had got their momentum going and then they fell away after that following over when they were left with too much to do. Was crucial. Bethel may have got them over the line without that. So maybe I'd go with Bumrah, but I wouldn't really argue with Samson. If someone said to me that it was Will Jacks, then I probably wouldn't argue with that too greatly either. I think there are a lot of, quite a few players up there near the top who performed pretty well throughout.

In terms of the stats and the raw numbers, well, Saabzada Farhan for Pakistan's 383 runs across 6 innings, the most anyone's ever scored in a single edition of the tournament. Sanju Samson's 5 innings yielded 321 runs, so some amazing batting contributions. With the ball, Bumrah and Chakravarty both 14 wickets apiece. I'm going to chuck in the USA's Shadley van Schalkwyk as well, who picked up 13 wickets across just 14.5 overs, which is pretty good going from, from the American fast bowler. For me, I can't look beyond Bumrah. I just think that there is nobody like him in the world game. There's never been a bowler quite as effective or dominant consistently who almost makes a T20 match 20 plays, 16 overs. It feels like at times he's just that good. And for me, any team in the world would be so greatly improved by his presence that He's irreplaceable, and for me, you can't look beyond him as the most significant and brilliant player in the world game, particularly in white-ball cricket. So I'm going to go Jasprit Bumrah. Right then, gents, here in our little eyrie, sitting here in the warmth of Arm a Bat. It's around about 39 degrees, but I'm glad that we're in the shade as well. Prakash is wearing his very natty T20 World Cup baseball cap back to front. He only does that for celebratory occasion such as this.

He told me he was too old to do that the other day. I tried to tell him to do it.

He said, "Oh, I'm too old for that." Not a bit of it.

Not a bit of it.

Just listen to us, Henry. We broke him down by the end.

It's worrying if he's taking fashion advice from you and me, Matt. Also, let me just mention Matt Henry, not the New Zealand bowler, but when we checked into this hotel, the card that they had partially filled out for you already did have the fast bowler's birthdate on it, which just—

Nationality New Zealand, birthday.

You know, if we'd taken that, we might have got a sweet between the 4 of us.

Well, honestly, I did not.

I can confirm there was no sweet.

Yeah, well, there you go. Right. Thank you, Prakash and Matt. And that's it for this episode of the TMS Podcast. Make sure that you're subscribed so you never miss an episode. Push notifications turned on in your phone settings too, so you'll get notified as soon as an episode drops. But that is it for our time out here in India and Sri Lanka. Not too long to wait until the next major ICC event as well. 12th of June, that gets underway in England with the Women's T20 World Cup. Will India's white ball dominance continue across the men's and women's game? We will wait and see. We've got a huge summer as well coming up with white ball and red ball series for England's men and women. Of course, the Hundred, new look Hundred to come, and we're less than a month away from the start of the County Championship. Oh, it's all so close and so exciting. It's been a long winter, but my goodness, it's been good fun. Thank you so much for listening and for joining us on the Test Match Special podcast. We'll speak to you next time.

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