Captain Mitchell Santner stated on Saturday that New Zealand will “not mind breaking a few hearts” in the T20 World Cup final against the hosts and reigning champions, India.
Over 100,000 home fans are anticipated to pack the Narendra Modi Stadium for Santner’s team’s Sunday match against India in Ahmedabad. New Zealand has never won a white-ball World Cup and made it to the 2021 final before falling to Australia.
“I wouldn’t mind winning a trophy. It’s going to be obviously a challenge where everyone knows we’re probably not the favourites. But yeah, I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once,” AFP quoted Santner as saying.
In the semi-finals, New Zealand defeated South Africa, who had been undefeated up to that point, by 9 wickets after Finn Allen scored the tournament’s fastest century.
However, previously in the competition, they also lost to England and South Africa. They take on an India team that has won three in a row. In the 2023 ODI World Cup final, Pat Cummins’ Australia stunned the home crowd in Ahmedabad.
“I guess that’s the goal, is to silence the crowd. T20 cricket is fickle at times. We’ve seen South Africa playing very good cricket all the way through and then had a little hiccup against us and out. So I think for us, it’s taking confidence from that and if we go about our business the same way, we can upset another big team,” said Santner.
India, who are ranked No. 1, are trying to become the first team to win the T20 World Cup twice in a row and the first to win the trophy on home soil. Additionally, they would be the first to win the championship three times.
However, they will have to live up to the expectations of both a full house and hundreds of millions of viewers. Santner believes they might be burdened by those expectations.
“So I think that comes with a lot of added pressure as well. So if we can go out there and try and put, I guess, that added pressure on them and see what happens,” said Santner.
