T20 World Cup 2026: ‘Kuldeep Yadav would walk into any other T20 team’ - Steven Finn highlights India’s depth after triumph

Former England cricketer Steven Finn shared a strong opinion about Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav following the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. The Indian team defeated New Zealand by 96 runs in the final held in Ahmedabad.

Despite being one of India’s premier spinners, Kuldeep played only a single match during the tournament and spent most of the time on the bench. Finn pointed out that Kuldeep would easily make the playing XI of almost any other team in the competition.

"Even look on the bench, Kuldeep Yadav barely played a game. He's probably walk into every other world T20 team and he's played one game. The depth is terrifying and I'm not sure other countries can keep up but they are going to have to find a way," Finn said on 'For The Love Of Cricket' podcast.

Former England pacer Stuart Broad also weighed in on the depth of Indian cricket following the triumph. He pointed out that talented players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, and Shubman Gill were not even included in the squad. Broad credited the Indian Premier League for helping Indian players handle high-pressure situations in international cricket. He further remarked that because of this system, the gap between India and other teams in T20 cricket appears to be widening.

"Jaiswal is not in this squad. Pant, Gill, Sharma and Kohli have retired. The strength and depth is pretty outstanding. I wonder if we have to lean on the IPL, of these players learning to play in front of huge crowds, under pressure with big expectations. If you don't perform in a couple of games, you get questioned. You are playing at an international level of pressure before you play international so you are used to it. The gap is going to keep getting bigger and bigger between India and the rest of the world," said Broad.

Finn also spoke about Sanju Samson winning the Player of the Tournament award in the tournament. He believed Samson deserved the honour even though he was not the leading run-scorer in the competition. However, Finn also added that he would like to see bowlers receive greater recognition in major tournaments.

"Rightly so. The impact in important games. I always think those medals are given to people just because they are the highest run-scorers or wicket-takers, but I think they should be given to people who have been most impactful at important times. Look at the games he's played. He was impactful in most and the later stages," said Finn.

"I want to see bowlers rewarded more. So often, it is like someone scored a pretty 80 so they get the player of the match. There are many times where I have said that about Jasprit Bumrah. This was one of the occasions where I thought he took four-fer and he bowled great, but Sanju and Abhishek set the game up by that powerplay and that is where the game was won and New Zealand never came back from there,” he added.