The last time India played a World Cup final at Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad, it was in the 2023 ODI World Cup when the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team lost by six wickets against Australia.
With the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team facing New Zealand in the final at Ahmedabad on Sunday, it will be the fourth time the two nations will be facing each other in a T20 World Cup match. With New Zealand winning all the three encounters against India in T20 World Cup history, the Mitchell Santner’s New Zealand side will hope to stun the defending champions and win their maiden World Cup title. Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes that India will also have the pressure of ‘1.5 billion fans’ as well as memories of the 2023 ODI World Cup final loss against Australia at the same ground.
“If the wicket at Ahmedabad grips and if it’s favourable for spinners, the par score will be around 200 or 175. Safe score would be 200 plus only. Now, will New Zealand be able to score 250 or 225 against India? If they do, India will be under a lot of pressure It’s also clear as daylight that India will also come fully prepared. I feel New Zealand may get bogged down in front of India, but India also has pressure of 1.5 billion people. They have already lost a match at Ahmedabad to Australia in the World Cup final. I see India as the winner out of all this, but for cricket’ sake, it’s high time New Zealand should win this World Cup,” Akhtar said on the show Game on Hai.
Coming into the T20 World Cup, New Zealand had lost the five-match T20I series 1-4 against hosts India. New Zealand though had won the three-match Test series against hosts India 3-0 in 2024.
Akhtar’s former team-mate and former Pakistan pacer Umar Gul rated New Zealand highly in the final clash against India and believes India can be under pressure.”New Zealand bowling attack appears stronger. India can be under pressure due to the home team’s big population. New Zealand recently won a series in India (Test series). They have experience with spin tracks, and India may also think that these guys played well against us and defeated us. New Zealand will have confidence. It will be a good final.,” Gul said on the show.
New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips also talked about the contrast in the population of the two countries as well the cricket talent pool to choose from. “Obviously, we have got a few less people in our country, to have the luxury of choosing from, which means obviously our high performance program has to be very specific and catered for the population that we’ve got, “But obviously, the talent that comes out of India is phenomenal. And, you know, they could probably pick three sides that would compete just as evenly in this World Cup. So for us to go out and compete with teams around the world, with such a small population is fantastic,” Phillips told the media in Ahmedabad on Friday.
