After 28 days of intense, high-octane action, the field has been reduced from 20 to just two teams who will battle it out for the T20 World Cup crown inside the modern-day cricketing colosseum of the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on March 8.
In the blue corner, stand the defending champions India, who are looking to do what no team has done before: defend the crown, win at home and become the first-ever three-time T20 world champions.
India's road to the final was nearly perfect, barring a chastening loss to South Africa in the Super 8s. Since then, they've bounced back strong with three wins on the trot to silence their doubters. The most recent of those wins was a 7-run heist in a run-fest at Wankhede against England to book their berth in the final.
Sanju Samson has been pivotal in this resurgence, and he underlined his importance again in the semifinals, adding 89 off just 42 balls to lead India's charge to 253/7. Axar Patel was another change in the squad after the solitary defeat, and the Indian vice-captain produced two moments of brilliance in the semis apart from chipping in with his customary four overs of disciplined bowling that yielded one wicket.
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In the black corner, are the team looking to break their World Cup duck after falling agonisingly short at the final hurdle in the recent past. New Zealand saw the ODI World Cup taken away from them on the basis of boundary count in 2019 and lost to Australia in the finals of the 2021 T20 World Cup.
The Kiwis path to this final has seen them lose twice, to South Africa and England, in the group stages but they showed up when it mattered the most, demolishing the Proteas in the semifinal at Eden Gardens.
Finn Allen was the undisputed star of the semis, with an unbeaten 100* off 33 balls, helping chase down 169 with 9 wickets and 7 overs to spare. The Black Caps will hope for a repeat of that performance as they look to silence a raucous home crowd.
They also come into this game with a slight psychological advantage, India have never beaten New Zealand in a T20 World Cup. The Kiwis boast a perfect 3-0 head-to-head record in this tournament's history and they'll be hoping to extend that run and lift their maiden world title.
India vs New Zealand Probable Playing XIs:
For India, the big question is whether they should persist with Abhishek Sharma, who is having a torrid tournament. After finally ending his hump of three consecutive ducks, the opener has scores of 15, 55, 10 and 9. The solitary meaningful contribution came against Zimbabwe. His struggle against off-spin could also mean India replace him with Rinju Singh to add some firepower at the death.
India Predicted XI: Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy.
New Zealand Predicted XI: Tim Seifert (WK), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner (C), Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson
Where to watch - India vs New Zealand T20 World Cup final
The pre-match closing ceremony will feature international pop icon Ricky Martin, as well as local stars Falguni Pathak and Sukhbir performing ahead of the Toss which is scheduled for 6:30 PM IST with the match starting at 7:00 PM IST.
You can catch all the action live on the Star Sports Network, with streaming available on the JioHotstar app.
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