He scored 1,016 runs in 31 innings, with his highest score being 100. Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi holds the T20 World Cup record for the most wickets in the tournament’s history. The leg-spin all-rounder took 39 wickets in 34 matches. The two teams have played each other twice in the World Cup, in the 2002 final and in the 2014 semi-final. The 2026 FIFA World Cup was chosen to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, marking the first time a World Cup has been shared by three host nations. The 2026 tournament will be the biggest World Cup ever held, with 48 teams playing 80 matches.
Rahul could have been the batsman to have come in at No. 4 with Kohli staying at No. 3, or later in the order as he has shown that he is capable of throwing his bat around in the death overs. Or, in a like-for-like replacement, India should have played Kishan at No. 4 in Suryakumar Yadav’s slot without disturbing the top-order. New Zealand, which had a negative NRR after their loss to Pakistan, improved it to +0.765 after their eight-wicket win completed in under 15 overs.
Daryl Mitchell top-scored with 49 as New Zealand hammered India by eight wickets to register their first win of the tournament. The final competitions are qualified from over 72,000 university students down to the National Champion teams from 34 countries. Each team presents their projects of entrepreneurial action that are not only make a difference in the world, they have the momentum to create new careers, spark business innovation and deliver fresh energy for social impact. The arch-rivals rarely play outside of major tournaments due to political tensions.
As against Pakistan, India may not have scored enough in the Power Play overs and in the first 10, with them taking time to assess the pitch conditions. But by the time they assessed the pitch behaviour, they ran out of overs and pressure mounted on the latter batsmen, whose only option was to go for big shots and fall to catches in the deep. Or, find wherever the fielders were placed for those catches. It was a huge surprise, and a mistake from the think tank, to send Rahul as an opener and not Rohit. Fine, Rohit walked in to bat in the third over, but that was after 17 deliveries were already sent down without him in the middle.
New Zealand are one hit away from winning the match now. Well, New Zealand had only 111 runs to chase and they did that with utmost ease. Their openers, Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell started well but just as the former was looking to tee off he perished. Daryl Mitchell though carried on his merry way and he found boundaries at will in the middle.
However, he hasn’t done either satisfactorily enough thus far. The ball flies to long leg and Adam Milne drops a sitter. Just like the first game, it’s down to these two to play out the middle overs and get a move on after India’s top-order failed.
With five titles, Brazil are the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have played in every World Cup to date. Brazil were also the first team to win the World Cup for the third , fourth and fifth time. Italy and Brazil are the only nations to have won consecutive titles.
After losing their tournament opener to Group II leaders Pakistan, New Zealand restricted India’s lauded batting line-up to 110 for seven before rattling off their victory target with more than five overs to spare. The Ludhiana-born Sodhi, who took the prized wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, said Santner’s spell in the middle overs also helped the other bowlers. India have lost their two games with big margins and hence, are also down on the Net Run Rate, which may prove to be a factor if India manage to win all of their remainder of the Group games. And welcome to the live coverage of the blockbuster clash between India and New Zealand being played at the Dubai International Stadium in the UAE.