Mitchell Santner admits New Zealand were ‘underdogs’ against India in T20 WC final

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 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, 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 powerplay is always a challenge. I think that was the tale of the day, was the two powerplays. I think we were three for 40 odd and they were 90 odd for none,” said Santner as quoted by the ICC website.