The final of T20 World Cup 2026 will be played between India and New Zealand on Sunday 8 March in Ahmedabad. For the first time, both the teams are going to meet in the final of this tournament, while this is the first meeting of both in the final after the World Test Championship 2021. Current champion Team India is considered the favorite to win. Now it will be decided in the full 40 overs match. But a day before the final, the photo of New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner has made the Indian fans restless. No statement or claim, but a photo.
In fact, a day before the match, on Saturday 7 March, New Zealand players Narendra Modi Stadium Practiced in. Kiwi captain Santner also saw a glimpse of the pitch to be used for the final. During this, Santner was seen standing on the pitch and taking photographs with his phone and while doing so, a photograph of himself went viral. This photo increased the heartbeats of Indian fans. Now what was there in this photo that it started being discussed?
Why did Santner’s photo go viral?
The thing is such that this photo of Santner taking a picture of the pitch on the phone reminded him of the World Cup 2023. A day before the final against India, Australian captain Pat Cummins was seen taking photographs of the pitch in exactly the same manner. That final was also played in Modi Stadium only. Then there were reports that Team India had made some changes in the pitch which had a heavy impact on it and Australia had won the title. In such a situation, Santner’s style before the T20 World Cup final has troubled the fans of Team India a bit.
Nah, Santner, is just doing exactly what Pat Cummins did before the 2023 WC Final.
We dont want the flashbacks man. pic.twitter.com/XNbDw6d5If
тАФ SelflessтБ┤тБ╡ (@SelflessCricket) March 7, 2026
Not just the photo, the statement is also the same
Well, not only the photo, but Santner also gave a statement similar to Pat Cummins and this also came into the headlines. In the press conference, the New Zealand captain was asked that the Kiwi team has always been winning hearts, so this time are they ready to break crores of hearts for the trophy. In response to this, Santner said that he would like to win the trophy and if his team does small things properly then they can win. Santner further said that he would not mind if he had to break a few hearts to win the trophy. His statement reflected Cummins, who had said before the 2023 final that there is no better feeling than pacifying one lakh people and this is exactly what happened.
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