Hosts winning the World Cup is rare across sport

There were hugs, smiles, photographs with friends and family and, yes, Tilak Varma did speak of a big party after but as India waited for the men’s T20 World Cup trophy, the images on television conveyed little of the demonstrativeness you would associate with the first team to have retained the title.

- Dhiman Sarkar

Instead, a sense of restraint was evident in the celebrations. One that reflected an awareness of how good—great even—this team was. The feeling coursed through Sunday evening culminating in India finally having a memorable association with the world’s largest cricket stadium.

“The most important thing in the T20 format was that we didn’t want to be afraid of losing,” said head coach Gautam Gambhir after the 96-run win against New Zealand. “Because if you are afraid of losing, you never win.”

It was reminiscent of what Brandi Chastain had said. “You have to be brave enough to be vulnerable. Vulnerability is not a weakness. It's an opportunity for high reward.”

With a top-order playing its first T20 World Cup (Sanju Samson didn’t get a game in 2024) and without six players who won it in 2024, India became the first team to win both the 50-over and 20-over World Cups at home. “It doesn’t get any bigger than that,” Marcel Desailly had said after France won the World Cup as hosts in 1998.