Heated moments don’t come around too often in cricket matches involving New Zealand but there was one during their 2026 T20 World Cup final against India on Sunday in Ahmedabad. Daryl Mitchell was left livid when India pacer Arshdeep Singh threw the ball back at him in his follow through and then walked back without apologising. Arshdeep apologised at the end of the over but after the game, he offered a more heartfelt apology to the New Zealand batting all-rounder which could be seen in a video posted by the BlackCaps’ Instagram handle.
“I know I can apologise as much as I can but, really sorry,” Arshdeep can be heard telling Mitchell in the video before the pair shake hands and then share a chuckle. Arshdeep then spoke about it in an interview with the broadcasters. When commentator Harsha Bhogle pointed out that Arshdeep ran away briefly just as he was about to chat, the latter said: “Just went to apologise to Mitchell. My throw reverse-swung and hit him so just wanted to say sorry to him for that. It was not intentional,” said Arshdeep.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
The incident happened off the fifth ball of the 11th over, by which point New Zealand already had their backs well against the wall. They were chasing a mammoth target of 256 and were 102/5 at that point. Mitchell was visibly livid after Arshdeep walked back without an expression on his face after hitting him.
Suryakumar then went over to Mitchell and had a word with him, in which time umpire Richard Illingworth spoke with Arshdeep. Arshdeep then offered an apology to Mitchell after bowling the next ball. Arshdeep finished with figures of 0/32 as India won the final by 96 runs to take a record third men’s T20 World Cup title. They thus became the first men’s team to succesfully defend their title, having won in 2024 in which Arshdeep had played an integral role as well.
