India will take on New Zealand in the big final of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The Men in Blue defeated England to get to the final while the Black Caps crushed South Africa to enter the ultimate game. There is a lot of hype and excitement surrounding the final as India look to win back-to-back World Cups and New Zealand eye their first trophy.

Ahead of the big game, New Zealand’s skipper Mitchell Santner has made bold statements on India and its fans. He hasn’t held back and has sent a statement of intent to the Indian dugout about how his side will approach the final.

Santner began by saying that New Zealand’s goal is to silence the Indian crowd in the final. "Yeah I guess that's the goal isn't it, to silence the crowd,”

The Black Caps’ skipper also highlighted the fact that the pressure is one India to win the final at home.

"So I think for us it's taking confidence that we can. If we go about our business the same way 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. I mean it would be, I guess if we don't win it'd 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, guess, the added pressure on them and see what happens,"  

He further added that even though New Zealand are not the favourites, his side would not mind breaking a few hearts to win their first trophy.

"Everyone knows we're probably not the favorites, but we don't mind. We know we can, if we do our little things well and put in a strong team performance, 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,"

Santner also spoke about the importance of the game and said that it isn’t just another game.

"It's easy to say it's just another game but everyone knows it's probably not. But I think 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. And I think, it always comes down to a couple of moments, especially in T20 cricket, where you can squeeze the opposition or take the advantage through there. I think we saw it the other night,”