With the T20 World Cup on the dressing room table in Ahmedabad, coach Gautam Gambhir addressed his team for one last time. “This is the most important thing in our dressing room, nothing else matters. You can win 100 bilateral matches and no one will remember. But they will always remember this trophy,” Gambhir said.
In his first interview since lifting the trophy, captain shared the details of Gambhir’s riveting speech with The — and other behind-the-scenes events that went into India’s historic triumph. But did Gambhir smile? “In the first four games we didn’t give him a chance to laugh. After the final, he smiled the most,” Surya said.
So did the rest of the squad that bonded over one radical idea during the eight-month preparatory phase — no heroes, no personal milestones, only victory. “It was very important to spread this thing like a virus in the team from the start,” the captain said. “We planted this team culture 18 months back.”
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Surya said they wanted to dismantle the team’s split personality. “We will play ICC events the same way we play bilaterals — more courageously, more openly,” he said.
There was nothing left to chance. Before the semi-final against England in , there was a last-minute change of hotel. “We were on the flight for the semi-final when someone suggested we try a new hotel. Many teams have done it. We didn’t want to leave anything on the table that could take us closer to our goal,” Surya said.
Moreover, a team that had struggled at the Narendra Modi Stadium — scene of the 2023 World Cup final defeat — went on to win the trophy at the same venue. “Now we know there’s no problem with the stadium,” Surya said.
The turning point came after a group-stage scare against South Africa. This was when the captain asked the team’s experienced all-rounder to have a word with the team. “Hardik and I sat down with the entire batting unit and had a long conversation about how we needed to bat going forward — what the identity of this team actually was. After that, our tide changed,” he said.
India scored 250-plus twice in the tournament and chased down totals with ease. “Every game, every player contributed,” said Surya, who made a habit of having heart-to-heart talks with his players.
The captain made a promise to blow-hot-blow-cold opener . “I told him, ‘there are nine games in this World Cup, even if you fail in eight of them, score zero in all eight — I am taking the guarantee that you will face the first ball in the final’.” In that final, Abhishek scored 50 off 18 balls.
Man of the Tournament Sanju Samson was another case in point. Coming in under pressure after a poor series against New Zealand, he scored 97 not out, 89 and 89 in the three biggest games — falling short of hundreds each time. “If you take 10 balls to go from 89 to 100 when you could do it in three or four, you’re stealing six balls from the second batter,” Surya said.
But there were also fun-filled memories for the Class of 2026. Surya spoke about how the team’s video analyst put together a 10-minute film that reminded the players of the highs during the last two years. It had the soundtrack from the movie ‘Bahubali’ and the stirring ‘O Shera Teer Te Taj’ from Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Kesari’.
