Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 8 : The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) organised a 10 km marathon run in Lucknow ahead of India's title decider match against New Zealand in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026.
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is ready to host another ICC final, and this time Indian fans are hoping for a happy finish as the Men in Blue are defending their title against the Kiwis, who are eyeing their maiden title.
A participant of the marathon, Tushar, told ANI, "We are very excited for the match. I hope Jasprit Bumrah and Abhishek Sharma play well and we win the World Cup."
Another participant, Ayush Shrivastava, said, "I support Team India... Our team is very good... We did not think we would win the last match... We are supporting Team India through this marathon..."
In the previous season under the captaincy of Rishabh Pant, LSG finished in the seventh spot with six wins and eight losses, with 12 points.
Going into the final, India are chasing a few firsts - the first to defend a T20 World Cup title, first host team to win the T20 World Cup and the first to three T20 World Cup championships. For New Zealand, the biggest challenges will be how to keep the star-studded Indian batting line-up relatively quiet and how to deal with Jasprit Bumrah's unerring line and length.
India and New Zealand took contrasting paths to the final; they entered the contest on the back of strong batting performances in the semi-final. New Zealand lost to South Africa in the group stage and to England in the Super Eights but were dominant in the final four. After restricting the Proteas to 169/8, New Zealand raced to a nine-wicket win in 12.5 overs, courtesy of a stunning 33-ball hundred by Finn Allen, the fastest in T20 World Cups.
Meanwhile, for India, who were perfect in the group stage, the only blip was the loss to South Africa in the opening Super Eight contest. The semi-final against England was a high-scoring thriller, with India piling on 253/7 and England falling just seven runs short.
In their head-to-head clashes, history may favour New Zealand, but form is with India. The Black Caps have not lost a match to India in the T20 World Cup, having scored victories in 2007, 2016 and 2021. However, the host nation was dominant in their recent T20I series in India, with a comfortable 4-1 win.
Lucknow Super Giants full squad for IPL 2026: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshin Kulkarni, Himmat Singh, M Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Inglis (Rs 8.5 Crore), Mukul Choudhary (Rs 2.6 Crore), Akshat Raghuwanshi (Rs 2.2 Crore), Wanindu Hasaranga (Rs 2 Crore), Anrich Nortje (Rs 2 Crore), Naman Tiwari (Rs 1 Crore).