Mitchell Santner proud of New Zealand despite T20 World Cup final mauling

By SABC Sport
9th March 2026

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner insists he is proud of his players despite falling to a big defeat against India in the T20 World Cup final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

The Black Caps went to down by 96 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium after conceding a total of 255-5 after Santner had won the toss and opted to bowl.

The Kiwis lost the 2021 T20 World Cup to Australia and also went down India in the 2025 Champions Trophy but the skipper believes they are getting closer to lifting a white-ball ICC title.

"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," Santner said.

"India in a final, in India, is always going to be a challenge. We knew that we were 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 powerplay 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."

Santner is also looking forward to the 11th edition of the T20 World Cup that New Zealand will co-host alongside Australia in 2028.

The skipper said: "It's probably quite far away that I think, so we will reflect as a group tonight, over the next few days of, I guess, this tournament and what it looked like.

"I think to make it to a final is obviously a pretty good effort from the boys and they should be very proud of their efforts throughout this tournament.

"And then I guess the next kind of major events one day is in South Africa, like you said, it's going to play slightly different to what we expect here.

"And then our next T20 World Cup is in Australia and New Zealand, so it'll be nice to get a few fans and the crowd there in familiar conditions.

"That's one of the hardest things is to win a World Cup in your country. So for India to do that, this obviously comes with a lot of added pressure, home fans. So for them to win this trophy tonight, they should be very proud of that."