India will take on New Zealand in the T20 World Cup 2026 final in Ahmedabad.
Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav has responded to his counterpart, Mitchell Santner’s statement, ahead of the highly anticipated ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 final. Previously, English all-rounder Sam Curran had expressed his desire to silence the enthusiastic Wankhede crowd in the semi-final but failed to turn it into reality. The Black Caps’ skipper, Santner, has also wished for the same during the ultimate IND vs NZ clash in Ahmedabad on March 8.
“I guess that’s the goal, isn’t it? Is to silence the crowd. We’ve seen throughout the whole World Cup that a lot of teams are on similar pages, and it comes down to 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,” stated the New Zealand captain.
It all started with the Australian captain Pat Cummins making the famous remark before the ODI World Cup 2023 final and eventually producing a dominant show against an unbeaten Indian side to pull off a massive victory. However, when being asked about the matter, Suryakumar came up with a witty reply.
“Sab same line chipka rahe hai, kuch different to bolo, [Everyone is copying the same line, please say something different]” opined the skipper in the pre-match press conference.
The Team India captain has also opened up on the message from Gautam Gambhir ahead of the all-important fixture. The batter noted how their head coach has imposed a complete team culture inside the dressing room, emphasising more on the team’s benefit than reaching personal milestones.
“His mantra is contribution from one and all. He has shunned the matter of personal milestones. Tilak’s 7 ball 21 is as good as when someone gets a hundred. If you want to hit a six on the first ball, then hit. If you think less about yourself and more about team, then you can achieve your goal,” added the skipper.
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Before leading the side in the IND vs NZ T20 World Cup 2026 final, Suryakumar also credited the former captain Rohit Sharma for building a legacy. Under Rohit’s leadership, India had claimed their second T20 silverware, maintaining an unbeaten streak throughout the tournament in 2024.
However, the opener called it a day in the format following the triumphant campaign. But India unleashed a power-packed domination in the shortest format, winning all nine of their series since June 2024, including a victorious Asia Cup campaign.
“The place where Rohit Sharma bhai left the team was in top place. It is his footsteps, I am just continuing from where he left,” he stressed.
The skipper also brushed away any concern regarding the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy’s form. The bowler was carrying on a decent run in the mega ICC event, snaring nine wickets in four league-stage matches at an impressive economy of 5.20. But in the three Super Eights fixtures and the semi-final, Chakravarthy has conceded runs at an expensive economy of 11.60, averaging a poor 46.2.
“We are not worried, it’s a team sport. We don’t think that much. We won the match, he is world’s No.1 bowler, he will do that for us. Changes we will see tomorrow,” stated Suryakumar.
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