Trinamool Congress MP and 1983 Cricket World Cup winner Kirti Azad criticised the Indian cricket team's decision to take the T20 World Cup trophy to a Hanuman temple near the Ahmedabad stadium following their third title victory.
Team India secured a historic third T20 World Cup title by defeating New Zealand by 96 runs at Narendra Modi Stadium on March 8, becoming the first team to defend the trophy and win as hosts.
After the win, captain Suryakumar Yadav, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and International Cricket Council chairman Jay Shah visited the temple with the trophy to seek blessings. Azad questioned the appropriateness of this action, emphasising that sportspersons and sports do not belong to any religion or caste. He said, “140 crore people were excited when Team India, which includes people from all religions, won. A sportsperson or sports does not belong to any religion or caste but only to the sport. As a sportsperson, I say Team India made India victorious. Team India won, and this is a matter of pride for the people of India.”
Earlier, Azad had expressed his views on social media, writing, “SHAME ON TEAM INDIA! When we won the World Cup under Kapil Dev in 1983, we had Hindu Muslim Sikh and Christian in the team. We brought the trophy to our religious birth place our motherland India Bharat Hindustan Why The Hell Is The Indian Cricket Trophy is being Dragged. Why NOT a Mosque? Why NOT a Church? Why NOT a Gurudwara? This Team Represents INDIA — not Surya Kumar Yadav’s or Jay Shah’s Family! Siraj never paraded it at a Mosque. Sanju never took it to a Church. latter had a major part to play and was man of the tournament. The Trophy Belongs to 1.4 BILLION Indians of EVERY Faith — NOT ONE RELIGION’S VICTORY LAP! #T20WorldCup2026final #IndiaVsNewZealand #TeamIndia”
In the final itself, New Zealand elected to field after winning the toss. Abhishek Sharma scored a record-breaking fifty, hitting 52 runs off 21 balls with six fours and three sixes. His 98-run partnership with Samson helped set a strong foundation. Samson then shared a century stand with Ishan Kishan, who scored 54 runs from 25 balls, pushing India’s total beyond 200 by the 16th over. Shivam Dube contributed an unbeaten 26 runs off eight balls, including three boundaries and two sixes, to set a record T20 World Cup final total of 255/5. James Neesham took three wickets for New Zealand.
During the chase, Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah took three and four wickets respectively, reducing New Zealand to 72/5. Tim Seifert scored 52 runs off 26 balls. A brief partnership between Daryl Mitchell and captain Mitchell Santner was unable to turn the game, and New Zealand were eventually bowled out for 159 runs.