India, March 8 -- Never has a team ever won a T20 World Cup trophy at home. Neither has a team that has defended its trophy. The variance in a T20 World Cup means that India's excellence in the format across two vastly different teams makes the act of going back-to-back in the finals a unique feat. Against New Zealand on Sunday evening in the final of the T20 World Cup, Suryakumar Yadav's team have a chance to create history.

After coming through unscathed in two must-win matches against the West Indies and England in the semifinals, it's a matter of the winning team taking the trophy, and the losers returning home with nothing to show. Two high-scoring encounters lead to this game, where a mixed red-and-black soil pitch awaits them. Ind...