India scored three totals of 250-plus in their last four games in T20 World Cup including the final.
Gautam Gambhir, India's head coach, denied allegations that Indian pitches are "tailored" to fit the home team, noting that such claims are regularly made to incite controversy and garner attention. These allegations surfaced after India dominated the knockout parts of the T20 World Cup 2026 tournament.
The Indian head coach defended the team's high-scoring performances in the recently concluded ICC Men's T20 World Cup, pointing out that wickets in ICC events are controlled by the International Cricket Council (ICC), not the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and that the team has scored comparable totals in overseas conditions such as Australia and South Africa.
He stressed that large scores are a global phenomenon rather than a result of home advantage and that modern T20 cricket is primarily a batter-friendly game.
"I don't agree to that. Why would you tailor something? And honestly, India is too good a team to be even thinking about something like that, and in the T20 format, whether you look in Australia or South Africa, we made 200 runs. If we make 200 runs in India, then the wickets get tailored. So I think some people want to create a controversy. That's why I say the statements given for views and TRPs should not be acceptable," Gambhir said in an interview with ANI.
Despite other teams scoring 140 runs on comparable wickets in Colombo, Gambhir noted that no one questioned India's 175 runs against Pakistan on a turning track.
"Because sometimes it is important to give players a lot of credit as well, because it's not like we made such big scores only in Indian conditions. We went to Australia, South Africa, and other places too. We had nothing in our hands, but this criticism used to happen for Australia and England too: that they make their pitches to suit their bowlers. But in ICC tournaments, they control the wickets. It's not the BCCI that controls the wickets, and in bilaterals, especially in the T20 format, it is a batter's game.
No one wants to come and watch a 120-run T20 game. Everyone wants to watch that high-scoring game. This is not the case here. It is a worldwide phenomenon. Take Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and England. They also make the same big runs in T20. We even played a match in Colombo. We played a match against Pakistan, where we made 180 runs and the rest of the team made 140 runs. We defeated Pakistan with 80 or 90 runs; no one said that there, it wasn't in our hands, it was Colombo," he added.
India hammered three scores of over 250 runs in their last four games in the T20 World Cup against Zimbabwe, England, and New Zealand.
India scored 255/5 in 20 overs against New Zealand in the final of the T20 World Cup 2026 in Ahmedabad. New Zealand only managed 159 in return and lost the summit clash by 96 runs.
India became the first team to defend their T20 World Cup successfully and the first team to win the title three times. India is also the first host country to win the T20 World Cup at home.
(ANI inputs)