India vs New Zealand Final, ICC T20 World Cup 2026: New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner admitted that the Black Caps are the underdogs heading into the T20 World Cup 2026 final against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. He said that his team would love to "bad guys" and silence the home crowd, just like how Australia and Pat Cummins did in the 2023 50-over World Cup final.
New Zealand have reached the finals of ICC white-ball events three times - the 2019 50-over World Cup final, the 2021 T20 World Cup final, and the 2025 Champions Trophy - but they came up short in all three games. During the pre-match press conference ahead of the all-important final, Santner was reminded of how the Black Caps have failed to get the job done in the previous few finals, asking whether New Zealand would be ruthless enough to silence the Indian crowd at a venue that can host more than 1.3 lakh people.
"This will be New Zealand's fifth final appearance at an ICC white-ball event in the last 11 years. On one hand, that is a testament to how impeccably consistent the team has been over the last decade. But then none of those previous four appearances culminated in a piece of silverware. Do you want to be, tomorrow, a bunch of bad guys who break a billion hearts, rather than win?" the reporter asked Santner.
Answering this question, Santner replied, saying he wouldn't mind winning a trophy, and the aim will be to spoil India's party on home soil, taking the chance away from them to defend the title and become the first team to win the T20 World Cup on home soil. Notably, New Zealand had defeated India in the 2021 World Test Championship final. "I wouldn't mind winning a trophy. You look at this group and the groups that have been in the past, we are pretty consistent on these because we try not to get overawed by the situation or opponents. We go out there and do our thing. And as a unit, it's been no different this time. And again, it's going to be obviously a challenge where everyone knows we're probably not the favourites. But we don't mind," Santner told reporters on Saturday.
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"We know we can, if we do our little things well and put in a strong team performance, put us in a pretty good position to hopefully lift the trophy. I wouldn't mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once," he added.
New Zealand made it to the final on the back of a dominating 9-wicket victory over the in-form South Africa in the semifinal. Santner also stated that his side's goal would be to silence the full-capacity crowd in Ahmedabad and play some good-quality cricket.
"That's the goal, to silence the crowd. There are a lot of variables in T20 cricket, and it can be fickle at times, as we've seen throughout the World Cup. A lot of teams are on the same page, and it comes down to a few little moments in every game that change the outcome. So I think India were very close to chasing that the other night," said Santner.
"If we go about our business the same way, we can upset another big team. And I think there is obviously a lot of pressure on India to win this World Cup at home. I guess if we don't win, it'd be pretty cool to win a home at the World Cup. 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, the added pressure on them and see what happens," he added.