AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Memories from a fateful November night still linger on, even as India is gunning for a record third title when it takes on New Zealand in the Twenty20 World Cup final on Sunday.
The Narendra Modi Stadium — the largest cricket ground in the world — will once again be packed as the Men in Blue will look to ward off the ghosts of the ODI World Cup final in 2023 when Australia beat India. Pat Cummins lifted the trophy at Ahmedabad as the Indian team watched in agony.
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A groundsman sprays water on the pitch ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match between India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
New Zealand's Glenn Phillips bats, left, bats during a practice session ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match against India in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
New Zealand's captain Mitchell Santner toss a ball during a practice session ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match against India in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
India's Rinku Singh, left, and Kuldeep Yadav during a practice session ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match against New Zealand in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
India's Rinku Singh bats during a practice session ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match against New Zealand in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
Rohit Sharma then led India to consecutive triumphs at the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, but that defeat to Australia still rankles.
India has won two T20 World Cups (2007 and 2024). England and the West Indies also have two titles. India returns to Ahmedabad in pursuit of more silverware — again as co-hosts but this time also as defending champions.
"There is pressure, I cannot deny that,” Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav said Saturday. “There is excitement too — playing another World Cup final and that too on home soil.”
New Zealand hopes to tune out the noise.
“Yes, that’s the goal isn’t it? To silence the crowd, but I think there are a lot of variables in T20 cricket (as compared to ODIs) and it is fickle at times,” captain Mitchell Santner said. “We have seen throughout this World Cup that a lot of teams are on a similar page and it comes down to little moments in every game that changes the outcome.”
The Black Caps have some hurt of their own. They finished runner-up to England in the 2019 Cricket World Cup, a final that went down to the wire with two super overs played. It then lost the 2021 T20 World Cup final to Australia. It is only the second final appearance for New Zealand in this tournament’s history.
Prior to this tournament, New Zealand engaged with India in a five-match T20 series and lost 4-1. However, that squad had a lot of second-string players and not many will consider that scoreline as a pointer to this matchup.
Since then, New Zealand has shifted up through the gears. It finished second in Group D, losing only to South Africa in the first round. The Proteas did enjoy advantage in that game at Ahmedabad, playing most of its games at the same venue.
That balance overturned in Kolkata, when New Zealand thumped South Africa by nine wickets in the first semifinal. Clever bowling, both pace and spin, and Allen’s 100 not out off 33 balls knocked the 2024 runner-up out of reckoning. In between, across the Super 8s, New Zealand only lost to England en route to the semifinals, beating Sri Lanka in Colombo, while its game against Pakistan was washed out.
Through round one, India finished top of Group A — also featuring Pakistan. Its sole hiccup in this tournament also came against South Africa — losing the first Super 8 game, also at Ahmedabad.
It served as a wake-up call for the defending champions — coach Gautam Gambhir switched openers as Sanju Samson came into the playing eleven to lighten the load on Abhishek Sharma. Samson has since scored 210 runs in three innings with back-to-back half-centuries against West Indies (Kolkata) and England (first semifinal in Mumbai).
Finn Allen’s form will pose a threat to India, whose bowling attack has suffered issues on flatter surfaces in this tournament and has constantly looked up to Jasprit Bumrah. The likes of Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips are well versed with these conditions on offer, and have familiarity with the Indian bowling too.
Ishan Kishan has been the sole consistent performer in India’s top-order. Abhishek Sharma is still struggling. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma have shuffled up and down the order on numerous occasions — it has worked at times. Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube offer key hitting prowess.
How they fare against Matt Henry’s pace and Santner’s spin guile, as opposed to Allen versus Bumrah, will be key ingredients to this final.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
A groundsman sprays water on the pitch ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match between India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
New Zealand's Glenn Phillips bats, left, bats during a practice session ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match against India in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
New Zealand's captain Mitchell Santner toss a ball during a practice session ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match against India in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
India's Rinku Singh, left, and Kuldeep Yadav during a practice session ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match against New Zealand in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
India's Rinku Singh bats during a practice session ahead of the T20 World Cup cricket final match against New Zealand in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
CHICAGO (AP) — A day after former presidents, sitting governors and local Chicago residents alike attended a vibrant, televised celebration for the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the family and friends who knew him best hosted a more intimate gathering Saturday to grieve the civil rights leader at his organization’s headquarters.
The private memorial service at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s headquarters on the South Side of Chicago includes only a few hundred attendees, most of whom are family members, allies and confidants. The homegoing is meant as a capstone to a week of services held across the country.
“I foresee tomorrow will represent everything that Rev. Jackson stood for,” the Rev. Chauncey D. Brown, a pastor to a Chicago-area church and mentee of Jackson's, said Friday.. “It will include dignitaries and icons, as well as many from where the true power lies, with the people in the streets.”
Some members of the public who gathered outside the PUSH headquarters were allowed to enter the chamber.
“Over the last two weeks, we’ve been focusing on connecting to people that Reverend worked with across the years,” said Rev. Janette Wilson, a longtime senior advisor to Jackson and executive director at Rainbow PUSH Coalition. “When you look at his work, it is so vast in the economic and political arenas.”
Since his death last month, Jackson’s family and allies have honored the late reverend with commemorations, community service and demonstrations they say continue his work.
Mourners were first allowed public visitations at the Rainbow PUSH headquarters in February, giving Jackson's longtime neighbors a chance to say goodbye to the civil rights leader.
The late reverend then lay in state at the South Carolina Capitol. Jackson grew up in segregated Greenville, South Carolina. As a high schooler, he led fellow students into a protest that desegregated a local library, starting a lifetime of civil rights activism.
Services honoring Jackson in Washington, D.C., were postponed after a request for him to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol was denied. House Republican leadership cited the precedent that only former presidents and senior generals regularly receive the privilege.
Jackson's mentees also honored his legacy by organizing on issues such as voting rights, economic inequality and political organizing in the weeks after his passing. Rainbow PUSH hosted a forum for community organizers and clergy whom Jackson mentored to discuss his impact on their careers.
Wilson said that the best way to honor Jackson is to continue advocating for progressive, inclusive solutions to the pressing economic and political challenges of the day. She cited policies that addressed the impending socioeconomic effects of artificial intelligence, improved public schools and a focus on youth mental health as areas he was contemplative on at the end of his life.
She also said that Jackson never shied away from being political.
“We’re in a global moment where peace in the world is in jeopardy, where we just have bombs being dropped carelessly, killing children, innocent victims of political actions,” said Wilson of the ongoing war in the Middle East. “When the government cuts SNAP benefits and you have millions of children and families who will be food insecure, I think you have to tell them that we’re fighting for you.”
On Thursday, the headquarters also hosted a series of events that celebrated Jackson's life ahead of the public celebration. Hundreds of members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity gathered at the headquarters to honor Jackson.
Jackson's life “is a dream fulfilled," said Michael Barksdale Jr., one of the fraternity brothers who honored Jackson. A Chicago public school counselor who first met Jackson as a high school freshman, Barksdale said the PUSH Coalition awarded him a college scholarship after he worked as one of the group's local youth organizers.
“It is up to my generation now to continue that legacy of Jackson and all the civil rights dignitaries who came before,” said Barksdale, 37. “They did all of the heavy lifting, and we are going to continue to build.”
That same night, the chamber hosted a reunion for Rainbow PUSH alumni to commemorate the late reverend and his years of activism. The group included state and local lawmakers, academics, longtime organizers and former diplomats.
Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate, paid her respects alongside longtime veterans of the organization who supported Jackson throughout his life. Braun, who served as a volunteer on Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign, was supported by Jackson in her successful 1992 election.
They celebrated Jackson’s life and reminisced about his dual presidential bids; his globe-trotting activism as an anti-apartheid activist and hostage negotiator; and his evangelism for a Christianity that emphasized justice for all and support for the downtrodden.
The headquarters also greeted nearly 100 progressive activists from Minnesota. The assembled groups represented civil, labor and immigrants’ rights groups who were recently thrust into the national spotlight after President Donald Trump's administration's enhanced immigration enforcement operation in the state sparked protests.
“It’s really empowering, at least for me, to see the coalition coming together and to understand the history of civil rights and human rights and immigrants’ rights,” said Yeng Her, the organizing director at the Immigrant Defense Network, one of the organizations that has protested the Trump administration in Minnesota.
The Jackson family invited the activists to Chicago to learn more about Jackson's strategies and find resources for their own organizations. Organizers met Rainbow PUSH alumni and some of Jackson's children.
The gathering was a prelude to both the private service for Jackson's family and another commemoration.
On Sunday, members of the Jackson family and many of Jackson's mentees will travel to Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the “Bloody Sunday” protest marches when civil rights activists were beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965.
Jackson himself often attended the same anniversary march.
“Reverend always thought three-dimensionally,” said Jimmy Coleman, a longtime aide to Jackson and native of Selma.
“Selma has always stood for the basics of what civil rights is, what we are debating in policy. He was always focused on what we needed in terms of policy in any given political moment, and that's what the march represents," said Coleman.
A choir sings during the Homegoing Celebration of Life for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Mr. T poses with a visitor during the Homegoing Celebration of Life for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
A person celebrates during the Homegoing Celebration of Life for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Yusef Jackson attends the Homegoing Celebration of Life for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
A visitor listens during the Homegoing Celebration of Life for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Jacqueline Jackson leaves the Public Homegoing Service for Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope after the service ended in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026 (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Jesse Jackson Jr. speaks during the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Former President Barack Obama speaks during the Public Homegoing Service for Reverend Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Former President Bill Clinton speaks during the Public Homegoing Service for Reverend Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and former President Barack Obama attend the Public Homegoing Service for Reverend Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
