India cricket team captain Suryakumar Yadav hasn’t taken New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner’s words too kindly ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 final. The Kiwi captain attempted to toe the path of Pat Cummins by stating that the side wants to silence the crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday by handing the co-hosts an upset. However, despite having a poor record at the venue, India captain SKY responded aptly to the taunt and indicated that the team was unbothered by it.
India dismiss New Zealand’s silence taunt before T20 WC final
At the pre-match press conference before the T20 World Cup 2026 final between India and New Zealand, Suryakumar was asked about Santner’s ‘silence’ statement. To this, the Indian capatin responded saying that everyone was saying the same thing. Such a statement was first made by Pat Cummins after Australia ended India’s unbeaten streak to win the ODI World Cup at the same venue in 2023.
“Everyone is saying the same (silencing the crowd). Special feeling to lead this team on home soil. Everyone’s excited,” Suryakumar Yadav said.
Santner wants to silence Ahmedabad
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner knows his team is the underdog, just like Australia was in 2023. And he, much like Cummins, has applied the same tactics. Santner, too, wants to ‘silence the crowd’ on March 8.
“Yeah, I guess that’s the goal, isn’t it? To silence the crowd. I think that there are a lot of variables in T20 cricket, and it is fickle at times. We’ve seen throughout the whole World Cup that a lot of teams are on similar pages, and it comes down to some little moments in every game that change the outcome. So I think England was very close to chasing that the other night; we’ve seen South Africa playing very good cricket all the way through, and then I guess had a little hiccup against us and you’re out,” Santner told reporters in Ahmedabad on the eve of the T20 World Cup final.
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