New Delhi: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner issued a Pat Cummins-like warning ahead of the T20 World Cup final against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on Sunday, March 8.

His words reminded Indian fans of the 2023 ODI World Cup, when Australian captain Pat Cummins said that he wanted to silence the Ahmedabad crowd. Now, just few hours before the T20 World Cup final, New Zealand’s captain issued a similar warning.

During the pre-match press conference ahead of the summit clash, Santner said that his team may not be the favourites leading into the final, but they will put up a strong performance on the day. The Kiwi skipper further said that he doesn’t mind breaking a few hearts at the Narendra Modi stadium on Sunday.

“It’s obviously a challenge. Everyone knows we’re probably not the favourite, but we don’t mind, we know we can if we do our 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, one might break a few hearts to lift the trophy for once,” said Mitchell Santner at the pre-match press conference.

‘Pressure on India to win the home World Cup’

Santner further added that South Africa played very good cricket all the way to the semifinal, but a little hiccup against them ended their tournament. He also said that they will focus on their business, and his team has the ability to upset another team.

“I think there’s obviously a lot of pressure on them to win, to win this World Cup at home. I mean, it would be, like I said, we don’t want to be pretty cool for you know to win a home. Home World Cup, so I think that comes with a lot of added pressure as well so if we can go out there and try and put, I guess, the added pressure on them, let’s see,” he added.

India defeated New Zealand 4-1 in the five-match T20I series before the T20 World Cup started.