India’s flamboyant all-rounder Hardik Pandya has described winning his second successive T20 World Cup title as fulfilment of a personal promise and declared that “this is just the start” of the team’s dominance.
Pandya scored two half-centuries with the bat, including a 52 off 28 balls against Namibia, and produced devastating spells when it mattered to end the tournament with nine wickets in all.
“After the win in Barbados (in 2024 final against South Africa), I promised myself that whichever tournament I play, I will play to win and I will lift the trophy. This win against New Zealand in Ahmedabad is a validation that the promise I made to myself has become a reality. And this is just the start,” Pandya told Star Sports.
The 32-year-old Pandya is one of the four Indian players included in ICC’s Team of the 2026 T20 World Cup.
During the interaction, Pandya also reflected on the challenges he had faced before the 2024 World Cup in the Americas.
“When we won the T20 World Cup in 2024, I was facing a lot of difficulties personally. Many things had happened before that tournament and things were not going my way. Before the 2024 World Cup started, I had made up my mind that I was going for redemption.
“I wanted to make a dominating comeback. I did that and helped my team win the trophy after 17 years,” Pandya recalled his performance in the tournament that broke India’s long title drought in ICC events.
Pandya was equally good with both bat and ball in the last edition of the tournament, picking up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.64 and scoring 144 runs at an average of 48.00.
The all-rounder from Baroda added, “Coming to this T20 World Cup victory in Ahmedabad, this is something I have always lived for. I play cricket to do well for my country and win trophies. I want to win all the trophies for India.” India on Sunday became the first team to successfully defend the T20 World Cup title and also win it on three occasions since their triumph in the inaugural edition of the tournament way back in 2007.
