New Zealand “won’t mind breaking a few hearts” in the T20 World Cup final against defending champions and hosts India, captain Mitchell Santner said on Saturday.
Santner’s team will face India on Sunday in Ahmedabad, with more than 100,000 home fans expected to fill the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
New Zealand reached the 2021 final, lost to Australia and has never won a white-ball World Cup.
“I wouldn’t mind winning a trophy,” Santner said.
He added: “Obviously it will be a challenge in which everyone knows that we are probably not the favorites.
“But yeah, I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once.”
New Zealand has gone through times of hot and cold.
They beat South Africa, unbeaten until then, by nine wickets in the semi-finals after Finn Allen scored the fastest century ever made in the tournament.
But they also lost to South Africa and England early in the competition.
They face an Indian team that is on a streak with three consecutive victories.
In 2023, Australia, led by Pat Cummins, silenced the home crowd in Ahmedabad in the ODI World Cup final.
“I guess that’s the goal, to silence the crowd,” Santner said.
“T20 cricket is fickle at times. We have seen South Africa play very good cricket throughout and then we had a little setback against us and we got out.
“So I think for us that takes away confidence, and if we do the same thing the same way, we can beat another great team.”
Top-ranked India are attempting to become the first team to win back-to-back T20 World Cups and the first to lift the trophy on home soil.
They would also be the first to win the title three times.
But they will have to endure the expectations of a packed house and hundreds of millions of people watching on television.
Santner feels the level of expectations could weigh heavily on them.
“So I think that comes with a lot of additional pressure as well,” he said. “So if we can go out there and try to put it on them, I guess, that’ll add pressure on them and we’ll see what happens.”
New Zealand tries to remember that India’s Jasprit Bumrah is ‘just a human being’
New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips is known for his great batting, but one of his team’s biggest tests will be trying to beat India’s star seamer Jasprit Bumrah.
A succession of precise yorkers and long balls produced just six runs as Bumrah bowled a near-perfect over to help overcome England’s latest comeback in their semi-final chase.
Phillips says the team is ready to attack if Bumrah fails in the final.
“He’s human too,” Phillips told reporters. “He’s allowed to have a bad day, just like the rest of us. So I hope we have a good day against him.”
Bumrah’s accuracy and ability to bowl yorkers have suffocated rival teams. Against England, his four overs yielded figures of 1-33 in a match where 499 runs were scored in 40 overs.
However, he didn’t fare so well against the Kiwis in a five-match T20 series earlier in the year.
India won 4-1, but Bumrah, who played in four of the matches, took just four wickets and conceded 9.46 runs per over.
Phillips acknowledged Bumrah’s class but said tactics against any bowler are never the same.
“Obviously we also had a very good trip against him in the bilateral series, but he is a class bowler,” Phillips said.
“It has so many variations. It hits the hole in the block incredibly well at the death.”
Phillips also downplayed the possible ploy of playing all four of Bumrah’s overs and targeting the other bowlers.
“It’s not necessarily going to be that per se,” he said.
“As I said, a bowler is allowed to fail, and if he fails, we have to disallow him.
“That also means if he bowls, well, we have to adjust to other things.”
Perennial underdogs New Zealand reached the semi-finals on the back of their net run rate, but went one step further when Finn Allen’s 33-ball 100 defenestrated favorites South Africa.
New Zealand wiped out their target of 169-8 in just 12.5 overs to claim an outrageous nine-wicket victory – they are now seeking a first World Cup title in any of the white-ball formats.
Mitchell Santner’s team will not only face a crowd of more than 100,000, but a billion Indian fans watching on television, although that does not seem to worry the New Zealanders.
“For us, we just went out and enjoyed it,” Phillips said.
“We have a great time as a group of lads, we go out and do the best we can for our country, and yeah, obviously a full crowd is fantastic.
“We play to entertain people, and whether they support us or support India, it’s great for cricket in general.”
