Colombo
\nNew Zealand will \u201cnot mind breaking a few hearts\u201d in the T20 World Cup final against defending champions and hosts India, captain Mitchell Santner said on Saturday.
\nSantner\u2019s side will face India on Sunday in Ahmedabad with over 100,000 home fans expected to fill the Narendra Modi Stadium.
\nNew Zealand reached the 2021 final, losing to Australia, and have never won a white-ball World Cup.
\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind winning a trophy,\u201d Santner said.
\nHe added: \u201cIt\u2019s going to be obviously a challenge where everyone knows we\u2019re probably not the favourites.
\n\u201cBut yeah, I wouldn\u2019t mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once.\u201d
\nNew Zealand have blown hot and cold in the tournament.
\nThey hammered South Africa \u2014 unbeaten until then \u2014 by nine wickets in the semi-finals after Finn Allen blasted the fastest-ever century at the tournament.
\nBut they also lost to South Africa and England earlier in the competition.
\nThey face an India side on a roll with three straight wins.
\nIn 2023, Australia, led by Pat Cummins, silenced the home crowd in Ahmedabad in the final of the ODI World Cup.
\n\u201cI guess that\u2019s the goal, to silence the crowd,\u201d said Santner.
\n\u201cT20 cricket is fickle at times. We\u2019ve seen South Africa playing very good cricket all the way through and then had a little hiccup against us and out.
\n\u201cSo I think for us, it\u2019s taking confidence from that and if we go about our business the same way, we can upset another big team.\u201d
\nTop-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.
\nThey would also be the first to win the title three times.
\nBut they will have to withstand the expectations of a packed house plus hundreds of millions more watching on TV.
\nSantner feels that level of expectation could weigh heavily on them.
\n\u201cSo I think that comes with a lot of added pressure as well,\u201d said Santner.
\n\u201cSo if we can go out there and try and put, I guess, that added pressure on them and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Colombo New Zealand will \u201cnot mind breaking a few hearts\u201d in the T20 World Cup final against defending champions and hosts India, captain Mitchell Santner said on Saturday. Santner\u2019s side will face India on Sunday in Ahmedabad with over 100,000 home fans expected to fill the Narendra Modi Stadium. New Zealand reached the 2021 final, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-535431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n