Santner eyes to ‘silence the crowd’ in T20 World Cup final against India
AHMEDABAD: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner has expressed his desire to silence the crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday when they lock horns with home side India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 final.
The iconic venue, with a capacity to accommodate more than 100,000 fans, hosted the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 final between India and Australia and the sea of blue was silenced by Pat Cummins’s men, who prevailed by six wickets to lift their sixth title.
Meanwhile, Santner, who is leading New Zealand for the second time in an International Cricket Council (ICC) event, with the first being the Men’s Champions Trophy 2025, where they suffered defeat in the final against India, was committed to taking a leaf out of Cummins’s book and pulling off a historic triumph for the Blackcaps.
“I guess that’s the goal, is to silence the crowd,” Santner told reporters during the pre-match press conference at the aforementioned venue on Saturday.
New Zealand booked their place in the final with a resounding nine-wicket victory in the semi-final over South Africa, who were unbeaten in the tournament until then.
But the Blackcaps’ journey had been bumpy as they suffered defeats against the same opposition in the group stage and against England in the Super Eights.
However, Santner insisted that the nature of the shortest format is such that in-form teams can falter and thus backed his group to produce another “upset” against a big team.
“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,” Santner continued.
“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,” he added.
For the unversed, New Zealand have been one of the most consistent sides in the ICC events recently, having played five finals in the past 11 years but lost all of them. Their sole final appearance in a men’s T20 World Cup final came in the 2021 edition, when they succumbed to an eight-wicket defeat against Australia.
The upcoming fixture against India thus holds the possibility for the Blackcaps to end the World Cup drought, and their captain Santner was willing to break a few hearts to achieve the long-craved glory, despite acknowledging that they are not favourites. “I wouldn’t mind winning a trophy,” Santner said.
“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.” On the contrary, victory in the upcoming fixture would help India record multiple major firsts in the history of the tournament. Web Desk
