Former England batter Mark Butcher praised India’s bowling after the Men in Blue won the T20 World Cup 2026 title. India bested New Zealand by 96 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday to win their third T20 World Cup title.
Butcher said Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah were right on the money in the tournament. Bumrah was the joint-highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 14 scalps in eight matches. The ace pacer bowled with an average of 12.43 and a brilliant economy rate of 6.21. Bumrah also returned with figures of 4-15 in his quota of four overs in the final against the Kiwis.
Furthermore, Singh and Pandya also provided the right support to Bumrah throughout the tournament.
“The other bowlers in the line-up are good enough to allow them to do that. This is the point again about how important the bowlers are. Arshdeep was incredibly skilful with the new ball. I think he was the only bloke in the tournament who was able to swing it both ways. Hardik had a terrific tournament with the ball. He’s become very skilful. They have lots and lots of options to enable them to introduce Bumrah in critical moments,” Butcher said on ‘Stick to Cricket’.
On the other hand, former England skipper Michael Vaughan said Suryakumar Yadav was smart in his usage of Jasprit Bumrah throughout the competition.
“I’ll tell you what they do really well, the Indian T20 team and the captain, is that usually with someone like Bumrah, you think he’ll bowl two in the powerplay and two at the backend, but they use him as an insurance policy. They let Hardik and Arshdeep bowl the first two. If they do well, Arshdeep might bowl the third. If they look like they need to drag it back, Bumrah bowls. If it goes well, he might not bowl again in the powerplay. They left him with three in the last ten against England. In the final, they went two up top because they wanted to clear Finn Allen and Seifert. They change the way they use Bumrah so the opposition can’t predict,” he explained.
Indian players will be next seen in action in the IPL.
