Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The celebrations, laughter, tears, dance, bhangra, hugs and high-fives were everywhere among the Indian players after Team India crushed New Zealand in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to lift the T20 World Cup 2026 title. This was India’s third T20 World Cup triumph, having previously won it in 2007 under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and in 2024 under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy.After India won the final, Arshdeep Singh, who did not take a wicket in the title clash, was seen making reels with his teammates, including head coach Gautam Gambhir. He was playfully trolling teammates and members of the support staff.
Arshdeep posted a video reel with Gambhir. Turning the phone camera towards the head coach, he teased him by saying, “Paaji, kade has vi leya karo yaar (brother, you should smile sometimes).”Arshdeep’s playful remark left Gambhir, who is usually seen in a serious mood, laughing.In another reel with Sanju Samson, Arshdeep said: “Justice mil gaya (finally got justice).” India scripted history by becoming the first team to win the T20 World Cup at home and the first team to claim three T20 World Cup trophies.With this triumph, captain Suryakumar Yadav surpassed former skipper Rohit Sharma to register the best winning percentage by an Indian captain in T20Is.Under Suryakumar’s leadership, India have played 52 matches, winning 42, losing eight, while two ended in no result, giving him a win percentage of 80.77.Following India’s record-breaking third T20 World Cup win, captain Surya reflected on the importance of mental resilience, team understanding and off-field preparation in building a championship-winning culture. He also emphasised that the most important thing is to remain true to oneself.Speaking about the lessons from his own career, Surya stressed that failure is an inevitable part of sport.“It’s really important to understand that you’ll definitely fail more times than you succeed in sports. I mean, he must have seen it in his career. I have seen it last year, 2025. Whole year, I couldn’t get a 50. It took me 400 plus days to get a 50 for India. But that’s what I told the boys, the same thing. Ups and downs will definitely keep on coming in sport,” he said while addressing the media in the press conference.For Surya, success comes not just from technical skill but also from character, discipline and fostering trust within the team.“You have to understand, you have to respect the game. You have to try and spend time with all good people around you. That’s more important. Be true to yourself. You can’t cheat the man in the mirror when you get up in the morning or you’re going to sleep,” he added.He also highlighted the importance of understanding teammates’ temperaments, strengths and weaknesses, and building confidence through personal connection and freedom of expression.“So, those small, small things which you do off the field, I think when we come on the field, that actually gives you a lot of confidence, that gives them a lot of composure. Also, I feel you need to understand each character on the team. Everyone is different. They bring a different skill to the table. So, you need to speak to them, their temperaments, understand them. That is actually very important and that’s what we did throughout the last one and a half years, two years,” the skipper stated.
