Tale of the day was the two powerplays: Mitchell Santner

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner admitted his side was always up against it after India’s explosive start, conceding that the Black Caps entered the final as underdogs and needed everything to go their way while chasing a mammoth total.

The Black Caps, who have now featured in four World Cup finals, were completely outplayed by India, slumping to a 96-run defeat in the summit clash here on Sunday night as their search for a maiden white-ball title continued.

“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,” Santner said.

“India in a final in 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.”

Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma gave the defending champions a rollicking start, racing to 92 in the first six overs. In contrast, New Zealand were 52/3 in the powerplay while chasing a mammoth 256.

“I think credit to Sanju and Abhishek at the top to get 90, I think off the powerplay. It’s pretty tough from there.

“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 power plays. I think we were three for 40-odd and they were 90-odd for none.”

New Zealand had won the toss and opted to bowl but their bowlers struggled to contain the Indian top order.

“There wasn’t a lot of seam or swing to start so I think the bowlers are trying to do what they can to get out of the hitting arc.

“We know how good both Sanju, Abhishek, and Kishan are at hitting all over the wicket. I think whichever way you look at it, there’s no perfect plan when guys are going. I think it is hard to stop when guys are going like that. So whether it was a few more yorkers or closing out balls, I think we tried the wide stuff.

“And then we tried the two on the leg side. So we tried everything. But credit has to go to the way they set that power play up and then from there you can go pretty hard and to get a good score like they did.”

Explaining the decision to bring in seamer Jacob Duffy in place of off-spinner Cole McConchie, Santner said the Ahmedabad surface offered little help for spin.

“Ahmedabad, the wicket, the mixed soil, usually there’s not much spin. There’s always a little bit of bounce.

“Bowling my overs, Axar’s and Chakravarty’s, there wasn’t really any spin at any stage. So whichever way you go, there was potentially a bit of bounce for the seamers.”

Santner admitted his bowlers faltered in execution.

“At the end of the day it’s an execution, whoever is bowling. I think when you bowl nice areas for a period of time, you could get an out of overs. I think that was the main thing.

“It wasn’t trying to get wickets at times, it was how you’d be defensive to be attacking. When we did that well, we were able to squeeze, I think, a period of four overs. And they lost four wickets. But outside of that, it was a few runs.”

On not giving off-spinner Glenn Phillips another over despite conceding just five runs, Santner said the Indian openers’ approach forced him to turn to the pacers.

“The way they played that over, Abhishek played it very smart. Sometimes he goes hard at the off-spinner but he gave it over to Sanju.

“And the first three overs are when the ball does the most. Then you can really capitalise on the last three of the powerplay like they did.

“If Sanju had got out, it might have been another option for GP to bowl to the two left-handers. But when you’re not taking wickets, it’s always a challenge.”

Despite the heavy defeat, Santner said reaching the final was a commendable effort and the side would reflect on the campaign.

“We will reflect as a group over the next few days of, I guess, this tournament and what it looked like. To make it to a final is obviously a pretty good effort from the boys and they should be very proud of their efforts throughout this tournament,” he added.