Ahmedabad: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner was calmness personified on the eve of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Saturday but didn’t shy away from acknowledging the magnitude of the occasion they will be facing, come Sunday.
Santner stated the whole New Zealand side is excited to face defending champions India and said the Black Caps are raring to go.
“Yeah, I mean we played obviously India a little bit before the tournament started. And it was a good series for us, building up for the World Cup, so I guess there's no secrets to what is going to be out there tomorrow. But yeah, first thing, always a buzzer, obviously World Cup final, guys are excited and ready to go,” he added.
Santner was quite candid when asked about what he thought about the wicket and the effect Jasprit Bumrah will have on the game.
“I haven’t had a look at the wicket yet. It’s still under cover but one can only assume it's going to be pretty flat and high scoring. So I think, yeah, in terms of Bumrah, I think he should be in everyone's conversation, the way he's been going.
Yeah, I think England, yeah, looked pretty hard to hit and he was obviously the game changer for India the other night. But we knew that was going to be the case, he's obviously a world class bowler, but you know, not just him. You know, I think the way everyone's been rolling in the team, whether it's with bat or ball, everyone's stepped up at different times and as a team that's where you want to be,” he added.
The New Zealand captain felt the 4-1 bilateral series defeat to India is something that they will look to take cues from ahead of the summit clash although he was clear in distinguishing between a bilateral series and the World Cup.
“I think in terms of the planning and the execution, it was a great series. You know, we were challenged at times, a lot of times throughout that series. But again, you kind of build on what works, what doesn't work and you kind of take that information going forward.
You know, we obviously played on five pretty good surfaces throughout India. I guess, not sure what it's going to play like, but again, I assure you it's going to be pretty good. And yeah, it's all learnings and I think guys will take good conversations from that series into this game already,” Santner quipped.
Santner was on the ball when asked about New Zealand’s inability to win enough trophies and how he saw the final from that perspective and breaking Indian hearts in front of 132000 people.
“I wouldn't mind winning a trophy. But yeah, I think that's, you know, you look at this group and the groups that have been in the past, you know, we are pretty consistent in their thoughts because we try not to get, you know, ruled by the situation or opponents.
We just go out there and do our thing 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. We know we can, if we do little things well and put in a strong team performance, you know, put us in a pretty good position to hopefully lift the trophy. But yeah, I wouldn't mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once,” he added.
