Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 9 (ANI): New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner admitted that the team knew they entered the T20 World Cup 2026 final against India as the 'underdogs' after their 96-run loss to the Suryakumar Yadav-led Team India. He also acknowledged that India outperformed New Zealand, saying the Men in Blue 'showed their class' in the summit clash on Sunday at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.

India became the first team to win the T20 World Cup at home, the first team to win it back-to-back after securing the 2024 edition as well and also became the first team to win it three times (2007, 2024, 2026).

For New Zealand, on the other hand, the defeat added another chapter to their history of heartbreak in ICC finals. After finishing as runners-up in the 2015 Cricket World Cup, 2019 Cricket World Cup, 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, they once again fell short in the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup final. Despite repeatedly reaching the summit clash, New Zealand were unable to lay their hands on the coveted World Cup trophy.

During the post-match press conference, Mitchell Santner acknowledged that repeatedly losing semi-finals and finals is disappointing, but emphasised that reaching such stages means facing top-quality teams. He admitted New Zealand knew they were the underdogs and that India proved their quality with a strong batting display. Santner said chasing a massive target of over 250 became even tougher after New Zealand lost early wickets in the powerplay, highlighting the contrast between the two sides' starts as a key factor in the result.

'I guess it's not ideal, losing semis and finals, but like I said the other day, you get to this situation, you're coming up against teams that are also playing very good cricket. India in a final, and India is always going to be a challenge. We knew that definitely the underdogs going into the game. And they showed their class again tonight, with that batting performance. And then, everything kind of has to go well when you're chasing 250. And losing the wickets in the power play is always a challenge. I think that was the tale of the day, was the two power plays. I think we were three for 40 odd and they were 90 odd for none,' said Santner as quoted by the ICC website.

Coming to the match, NZ won the toss and elected to field first. However, a return-to-form, record-breaking fifty from Abhishek Sharma (52 in 21 balls, with six fours and three sixes) and his 98-run stand with Samson made NZ regret the decision. Later, Samson stitched a century stand with Ishan Kishan (54 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) to take India past the 200-run mark in the 16th over. After a brief slowdown, Shivam Dube (26* in eight balls, with three fours and two sixes) made some valuable runs to take India to 255/5, the highest total in T20WC finals.

James Neesham (3/46) was the leading wicket-taker for NZ.

In the run-chase of 256 runs, Axar Patel (3/23) and Jasprit Bumrah (4/15) reduced the Kiwis to 72/5, despite a half-century from Tim Seifert (52 in 26 balls, with two fours and five sixes). Despite a brief partnership between Daryl Mitchell (17) and skipper Mitchell Santner (43 in 35 balls, with three fours and two sixes), India kept chipping in with wickets, and the Kiwis were bundled out for just 159 runs. (ANI)