India just made history as the first team to defend a T20 World Cup, winning three ICC trophies in two years
It happened. Where India lost the 2023 ODI World Cup final at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India has just won the T20 World Cup 2026. India now owns the ICC trophy hat-trick: T20 World Cup 2024, Champions Trophy 2025, and T20 World Cup 2026. Never before has a team won three ICC trophies, let alone three different formats, in a row.
India won 31 out of 33 matches it played across four ICC tournaments between 2023 and 2026. Just two defeats. A miserly 6.1% failure rate.
How did they do it?
Tonight, cricket will have to answer that question.
The easy answer: Money. Of course, they have that. But there’s more to India’s story than just finances.
The Balance Sheet Behind the Trophies
India doesn’t win titles only because of Jasprit Bumrah’s yorkers or Sanju Samson’s sixes. Winning starts with this balance sheet that every other professional sport in the world would die for.
The BCCI’s cash and bank balance has grown to ₹20,686 crore ($2.35 billion), with ₹14,627 crore added to reserves in just five years. The general fund almost tripled from ₹3,906 crore in 2019 to ₹11,346 crore by March 2025.
In comparison, Cricket Australia earns about ₹658 crore, the ECB about ₹492 crore, Pakistan around ₹458 crore, and Bangladesh about ₹425 crore. If you add up the other major boards, their combined revenue is about ₹3,000 crore. The BCCI earns three times that, and its reserves are nearly seven times higher.
Under the ICC’s current 2024–2027 model, the Board of Control for Cricket in India will take home 38.5% of the annual net surplus generated globally by cricket. That’s about $230 million per year. ECB gets the next largest slice at $41 million. The gap isn’t narrowing. It’s widening every year.
This cycle feeds on itself. India generates the most income, receives the biggest slice of the money pie, and then ploughs it back into its infrastructure and talent pool.
Where the Money Goes: Infrastructure and Pipeline
The BCCI commissioned the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru in 2025. Spread across 40 acres with three international-grade grounds, 86 practice pitches, a 16,000 square-foot gymnasium, underwater therapy pools, sports science laboratories, and world-class rehab centres, the state-of-the-art facility will allow players to recover from injuries, keep fit, and hone their skills.
It cost ₹200 crore to build. Having year-round access to world-class facilities means Indian cricketers are able to rest and recuperate after injuries better than their foreign counterparts. They can also work out and practice in conditions that help them elevate their games.
The ₹500 crore will be given as infrastructure subsidies to state associations, and ₹1,200 crore will go towards infrastructure and development of the game at large.
In May 2024, the board launched the construction phase of an indoor facility in North East India. That’s Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim for those who aren’t aware; states which had rarely, if ever, produced cricketers until now.
A whopping ₹344 crore budget has been set aside for domestic cricket. That includes ₹111 crore for the Ranji Trophy. Spending on India A and junior programmes was tripled to ₹42 crore. States got ₹1,990 crore in grants last fiscal and are projected to get ₹2,013 crore in grants next fiscal.
BCCI pays equal match fees to its men and women cricketers, which is rare even in modern times.
This is how you create an infrastructure that lasts decades — if not generations. India’s domestic set-up — the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Duleep Trophy, India A and Under-19 sides — is the most robust, largest, and well-funded cricket ecosystem in the sport. BCCI funds it all.
The talent pool in Indian cricket is deep for a reason. India could have fielded two more teams in the World Cup with that much talent in the pool.
The IPL: Cricket’s $18.5 Billion Pressure Cooker
The IPL (Indian domestic T20 tournament) might pride itself on many things, but what it actually does best is often understated: prepare players for international cricket.
Houlihan Lokey valued the IPL at $18.5 billion in its latest 2025 Brand Valuation Study, up 12.9% year-on-year. Its brand value alone stands at $3.9 billion. Media rights from 2023–2027 sold for ₹48,390 crore ($6.2 billion). Earlier seasons have drawn audiences exceeding 500 million on television and over 600 million on streaming.
But what the IPL offers players is more valuable than millions of dollars.
A cricketer in the IPL might face Jofra Archer one night, Rashid Khan the next, and Kagiso Rabada a few days later. The pressure is relentless — packed stadiums, global broadcasts, and the best players in the world. By the time an ICC tournament arrives, the stage no longer feels intimidating. It feels familiar.
That’s why Sanju Samson churned 89 off 46 balls in a World Cup final. That’s why Jasprit Bumrah took 4/15 with the match on the line and bowls bombs of yorkers. Because they’ve faced pressure like this before — countless times in fact — in the IPL.
There is one catch. Brand Finance reported in December 2025 that the IPL’s ecosystem value dropped by 20% to $9.6 billion, mainly because of geopolitical issues and the JioStar media monopoly. The days of easy double-digit growth may be over. Still, what counts as a ‘down year’ for the IPL would be a record year for any other global cricket league.
What Tonight Means for World Cricket
Winning in Ahmedabad isn’t just another trophy for the collection. It proves a point.
Thirty-three matches. Thirty-one wins. Three ICC trophies in a row. Four straight finals. The first successful T20 World Cup title defence. All of this happened while moving on from two of cricket’s greatest white-ball players (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli).
The Women’s Premier League — already delivering ₹350 crore in annual profits and powering India’s 2025 Women’s World Cup victory — is running the same playbook.
When Dream11 walked away from its ₹358 crore sponsorship in 2025 after India’s online gaming ban, the BCCI replaced it with Adidas at a higher valuation within months. That’s shock absorption that would cripple most boards. In India, it barely registered.
These facts aren’t random. They’re all part of a system that gets stronger every year. Money funds infrastructure. Infrastructure develops talent. Talent wins trophies. Trophies bring in viewers. Viewers bring in more money.
There is a saying that cricket is considered a religion in India, which is absolutely true.
The IPL starts this month. The next group of 18-year-olds is already working hard in state academies. The Centre of Excellence will have a new batch of fast bowlers in its recovery labs by April. The BCCI will announce another record surplus.
For every other cricket board, the real question tonight isn’t how to beat India. That fight is already being lost. The real challenge is building systems — in Australia, England, and the Caribbean — that can keep the competition meaningful over the next decade.
What happened in Ahmedabad wasn’t just about lifting a trophy. It was the most expensive, most carefully planned, and most structurally built dynasty in team sports history, making it clear that it’s not slowing down anytime soon.
The scoreboard shows a moment in time. The system is built to last.
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