Now, Mitchell Santner wants to silence the Indian crowd

Ahmedabad: New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner on Saturday said his side 'doesn’t mind breaking a few hearts and silencing the crowd' as they chase an elusive ICC World Cup after having fallen short at the final stage on a few occasions.

Although New Zealand are yet to win a limited-overs World Cup while India have won four of those — two each in ODIs and T20Is — Santner reckoned the pressure will be higher on Men In Blue considering they’ll be playing at home where fans expect nothing less than a trophy. 

“Yeah, I guess that's the goal, isn't it, to silence the crowd,” said Santner, reiterating what Australia skipper Pat Cummins’ statement ahead of the 2023 World Cup final at this venue which India lost. “But I think that there are a lot of variables in T20 cricket, and it is fickle at times. We've seen South Africa playing very good cricket all the way through and then I guess had a little hiccup against us, and you're out. So I think for us, it's taking confidence in that if we go about our business the same way, we can upset another big team. 

“I think there's obviously a lot of pressure on India to win this World Cup at home. I mean, it would be. It would be pretty cool to win a 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 to put, I guess, the added pressure on them and see what happens.”

In T20 World Cups, the Kiwis have competed in five semifinals and advanced to the final just once, where they lost to arch-rivals Australia by eight wickets in Dubai. In ODI World Cups, they’ve contested in seven semifinals and progressed to two finals, losing both in contrasting fashion. 

In 2015 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, they were blown apart by the trio of Australian pacers Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner, losing the game by seven wickets, while four years later at Lord’s, they lost a nerve-jangling match to England, the latter laying their hands on the trophy via 'boundary count' rule after the Super Over also finished on tie.

It’s this massive pressure of bottling big games, plus a massive ground comprising around a lakh people rooting for India, that New Zealand will be up against as they try to break the jinx, but the ever-composed Santner was confident March 8 could be a defining day for his nation. 

“I wouldn't mind winning a trophy, but yeah, I think you look at this group and the groups that have been in the past, we are pretty consistent in these tournaments because we try not to get overruled by the situation or opponents. We just go out there and do our thing as a unit. It's been no different this time,” said the spinning all-rounder at a jam-packed pre-match press conference at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

“It's going to be obviously a challenge. Everyone knows we're probably not the favourites, but we don't mind. We know we can, if we do our little things well and put in a strong team performance, it’ll 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.”