AHMEDABAD: Mitchell Santner doesn’t ooze intensity like some of the modern day captains do. Neither is he the quintessential ‘Funny Man’, whose smart one-liners would bring the house down.
But in his own inimitable way, the New Zealand captain was ready to answer every question that came his way, including the Iran-US conflict that has effectively shut down the middle-east airspace and the obvious one, like Pat Cummins in 2023, he also wouldn’t mind hearing the sound of crushing hearts.
Like Pat Cummins in 2023, Santner also wouldn’t mind hearing the sound of crushing hearts.
How much of a relevance does winning a T20 World Cup final when human lives are on line due to West Asia crisis? “It’s a hard one to avoid or not see because it is, you know, everywhere and it’s obviously a pretty tough situation. Obviously people at the World Cup have been affected as well,” Santner said, not avoiding the sensitive question as some of his contemporary international captains would.
New Zealand reached the 2021 final, losing to Australia, and have never won a white-ball World Cup.
“I wouldn’t mind winning a trophy,” Santner said.
He added: “It’s going to be obviously a challenge where everyone knows we’re probably not the favourites.
“But yeah, I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once.”
New Zealand have blown hot and cold.
They hammered South Africa – unbeaten until then – by nine wickets in the semifinals after Finn Allen blasted the fastest-ever century at the tournament.
But they also lost to South Africa and England earlier in the competition.
They face an India side on a roll with three straight wins.
T20 cricket is all about moments and he would want his men to seize them.
“It always comes down to a couple of moments, especially in T20 cricket, where if you can squeeze the opposition or take the advantage through there. I think we saw the other other night.”
The word ruthless might not be associated with New Zealand but on Sunday, Santner won’t mind being tough on opposition.
“If you can be very consistent in the way you approach the game, with bearing a couple of moments where you could potentially be a little bit more ruthless,” he said. “But I don’t think you have to reinvent the wheel,” he added.
