I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy: Mitchell Santner

New Zealand T20I captain Mitchell Santner has asserted that he would love to silence the crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad by lifting the trophy, defeating the Indian team on Sunday night

Interestingly, similar comments were earlier made by the Australian captain Pat Cummins, who wanted to silence the stadium in Ahmedabad back on November 19, 2023. Notably, Cummins was successful in silencing the 1-lakh-plus crowd at the venue back then.

“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. But yeah, I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once,” Santner said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.

“It’s easy to say it’s just another game, but everyone knows it’s probably not. The way you go about it has to be the same, whether it’s your preparation, what that looks like on the day, leading up to the game,” he added.

Additionally, the Kiwis skipper has lauded the Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy. While Bumrah played a crucial role throughout the campaign, Varun failed to create an impact in the last four outings despite emerging as the leading wicket-taker for India.

“Bumrah, yeah, I think he should be in everyone’s conversation, the way he has been going. Against England, he looked pretty hard to hit. And he was obviously the game changer for India the other night,” Santner said.

“We knew that was (Bumrah performing) always going to be the case. He’s obviously a world-class bowler. But, you know, not just him, everyone has stepped up at different times. And as a team, that’s where you want to be,” he stated.

“We have all seen how good he is. And I think the challenge for any bowler is when pitch is flat compared to how it looks like when it’s spinning or seaming. But when it is flat, I think, everyone can go for 60 on such a day. I think he’s got to know that he is still a very good bowler. You should know that you are only one game away from changing the tide,” he concluded.

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