Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly believes New Zealand put themselves under immense pressure after their captain Mitchell Santner decided to field first after winning the toss at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad in the T20 World Cup final on Sunday.

Indian openers – Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson – added 98 runs for the opening alliance and smashed 92 runs in the Powerplay overs to put them in the drivers’ seat. India went on to put 255 runs on the board after India’s top three batters scored brilliant fifties.

Ganguly told RevSportz, “New Zealand had lost the World Cup by 7:30 pm. How can teams ask this Indian side to bat first? It is a recipe for disaster. The match started at 7 pm and was over by 7:30 pm. I said as much to the people who were watching with me.”

“Look at India’s batting – Ishan, Abhishek, Sanju Samson, Surya, Shivam, Tilak, Hardik, and Axar – and teams want to send India in! It is a recipe for disaster. And then you have Bumrah, who is a freak. The game was over by 7:30 pm.”

Ganguly highlighted that players like Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Vaibhav Suryavanshi are not part of the team, which goes to show India’s depth.

“Just think of the players who are not in the team, and you will know how good they are. Shreyas Iyer is a bona fide white-ball great, yet he doesn’t get a spot in the team. Suryavanshi can walk into any team in the world. Jaiswal doesn’t get a spot in the team. Gill is sitting out. You can easily field two teams of great quality,” said Ganguly (via the aforementioned source).

“The only two teams who can compete with India in white-ball cricket are Australia and England. South Africa have talent and can be competitive in helpful conditions. Most other teams will not stand a chance against this Indian side.”

Indian players will be next in action in IPL 2026.