'Silence the crowd': How Mitchell Santner echoed Pat Cummins as Kiwis eye first white-ball World Cup win

Ahmedabad: Mitchell Santner has no problem being the villain on Sunday night. If it means finally ending New Zealand’s long wait for a major white-ball trophy, the Black Caps captain said he wouldn’t mind “breaking a few hearts” in front of a packed Narendra Modi Stadium when his side takes on India in the T20 World Cup final.

“I wouldn’t mind winning a trophy,” Santner said on Saturday. “You look at this group and the groups in the past — we’ve always tried not to get overawed by the situation or the opposition. We just go out there and do our thing. I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once.”



New Zealand have reached five ICC white-ball finals since 2011 — including three since 2019 — but have fallen short each time. With India playing at home in front of a crowd of more than 1.3 lakh, Santner acknowledged that his team would start as underdogs.

“We know we’re probably not the favourites but we don’t mind that. If we do the little things well and put in a strong team performance, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

Santner also echoed what Australia captain Pat Cummins had famously said during the 2023 ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad, that the best feeling for an away team is silencing a partisan crowd. “That’s the goal, to silence the crowd,” Santner said. “T20 cricket can be fickle and it often comes down to a few key moments.”

He added that the pressure would largely be on India. “There’s obviously a lot of pressure on India to win a World Cup at home. If we can go out there and put pressure on them and see what happens, that’s the challenge.”

‘Players here affected by West Asia situation’

Meanwhile, Santner admitted that the ongoing conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran — which has disrupted air travel across West Asia — has been difficult for players to ignore. “It’s hard to avoid because it’s everywhere and it’s a pretty tough situation,” he said. “People at the World Cup have been affected as well. Guys not being able to go home, you can imagine how tough that is. For us it’s about focusing on what tomorrow looks like against a very, very good Indian team. It’s not easy to put those things out of your mind but we have to.”


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