New Zealand are yet to win T20 World Cup.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner has made a bold remark in the press conference ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 final against India in Ahmedabad. While acknowledging the crowd pressure and support for the Men in Blue, Santner exclaimed that his team wouldn’t mind being bad guys and “breaking a few hearts” to win that elusive trophy.
“I wouldn’t mind winning a trophy. 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.”
New Zealand have been part of as many as four white-ball ICC tournaments in the last 11 years, but won none of them. They were on the losing side in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, the 2021 T20 World Cup, and the 2025 Champions Trophy.
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Even in the ongoing tournament, the Blackcaps have found ways to win the right matches and enjoyed a fair share of luck, despite suffering two defeats – first against South Africa in the group stage and then against England in the Super 8. As it turned out, both these teams were eliminated in the semifinal, with New Zealand themselves giving the Proteas a mauling at Eden Gardens.
The silent statement is out yet again, as Pat Cummins gave in 2023 ahead of another final, coincidentally at the same venue. Mitchell Santner exclaimed that India will be under more pressure to win at home, as South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad also pointed out, and New Zealand’s goal is to keep the crowd quiet for as long as possible.
“Yeah, I guess that’s the goal, isn’t it? Is to silence the crowd… we’ve seen throughout the whole World Cup that you know, a lot of teams are on similar pages, and it comes down to you know, some little moments… we can upset another big team, and I think there’s obviously a lot of pressure on India to win this World Cup at home.”
India have crumbled under pressure before in this tournament, and obviously, in the World Cup 2023, and the Kiwis know a thing or two about winning big matches against the Men in Blue. Apart from those wins in the 2019 World Cup semifinal and the 2021 World Test Championship (WTC) final, New Zealand also pushed India harder than any other team on two different occasions during their winning streak in the Champions Trophy last year.
Their head-to-head record against India in the T20 World Cup is also something to take inspiration from; the Kiwis have won all three previous matches in 2007, 2016, and 2021. The ‘silent statement’ has been used repeatedly by various teams; New Zealand would want to make it ring true in front of a capacity crowd at a venue where India have suffered their only two defeats in the last four ICC events.
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