Ready to break the hearts of crores of Indians… Mitchell Santner said before the final of T20 World Cup

Ahmedabad: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said that when the world is facing the horrors of war, his team is fully prepared to break the hearts of crores of Indians in the T20 World Cup to be held here on Sunday.

Santner is not as enthusiastic as other captains of the present time, nor does he joke, but his presence of mind makes the audience laugh. He was ready to answer all kinds of questions ahead of the final, including the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran that has effectively closed airspace over the Middle East.

A question was also asked to Santner that when human lives are at stake due to the West Asia crisis, what is the importance of winning the T20 World Cup final. “It’s hard to avoid or ignore it because it’s affecting everyone,” he told reporters on the eve of the match. People involved in the World Cup have also been affected by this. Due to the closure of Dubai airspace, the West Indies and England teams are stuck in Kolkata and Mumbai respectively. Santner admitted that it is difficult to focus solely on the final when people are not able to return home, but that is the only task at hand right now.
He said, “Players are not able to return home. In such a situation, it is difficult to think only about the match. It’s a challenge to get it out of your mind. But I think it is important for us to think about how we fare tomorrow against a very good Indian team.” New Zealand has reached the finals of any ICC tournament five times in the last 11 years but had to settle for second place.

Santner said, “We come out on the field and do our job as a team. This time also there will be no change in it. It will definitely be a challenge, because everyone knows that we are probably not favorites to win. It doesn’t matter to us. I wouldn’t mind breaking a few people’s hearts to win a trophy.

“It’s easy to say it’s just another match but everyone knows it’s not,” he said. For this you should have good strategy and preparation.” Santner said, ”Especially in T20 cricket, the dice turn in a few moments. In these moments you can put pressure on the opposition team or take advantage of them. I think we saw that in recent games.”