Shivam Dube was not among the heroes the spotlight sought out first after India’s T20 World Cup final victory — that honor went to Samson, Bumrah, Sharma, and Kishan. But Dube’s extraordinary final over, in which he scored 24 runs off eight deliveries to take his total from two to 26, added the late gloss to a total of 255 that ultimately proved 96 runs too many for New Zealand.
India had spent most of the innings building what looked like a total in excess of 300. The powerplay had yielded 92 without loss in six overs, equalling the World Cup record. Three consecutive fifties from the top three gave them a platform most teams would envy. At 191 for one in the 14th over, 300 seemed a formality rather than an ambition.
Then the 15th-over chaos arrived. Jimmy Neesham bowled a poor but devastatingly effective over: one run, three wickets, including Samson for 89, Kishan for 54, and Suryakumar for a golden duck. Scoring slowed in the following overs before Dube took matters into his own hands in the final over, launching the ball into the crowd repeatedly to post 255.
New Zealand’s response was never going to be good enough. Allen fell for nine, the middle order was ineffective, and Seifert’s fifty was the only batting performance that registered as notable. Bumrah was extraordinary with three wickets. Two dropped catches — by Dube and Pandya — provided brief moments of light relief but changed nothing.
India retained the T20 World Cup with 96 runs to spare. Dube may not have been the first name called, but his final-over assault was the finishing touch on India’s greatest World Cup performance.