Suryakumar Yadav's Indian team faces an obstacle from an opponent who, during their journey, easily defeated previously undefeated South Africa by nine wickets.
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India will face New Zealand in the World Twenty20 final on Sunday, and will have the chance to become the first team to defend their title as defending champions. But the Indian team will be under pressure, as the entire country will be pushing them to win the title.
Suryakumar Yadav's Indian team has an obstacle in front of them, an opponent who easily defeated previously unbeaten South Africa by nine wickets during their journey. New Zealand is confident that its team is capable of winning the first T20 World Cup in the country's cricket history and one of the reasons for this could be Finn Allen.
He scored a century in 33 balls in the first semi-final of the tournament in Kolkata. Allen himself says, "This week our team has come into its own. We are playing excellent cricket now and we can beat anyone in the process.’
There will be at least one lakh spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad where the final will be held to support Indian cricket, and millions more will watch the match live on television. To make them happy, India will have to create new history, because so far neither anyone has been able to defend the title as the defending champion, nor has anyone won the T20 World Cup title on their home turf. Captain Suryakumar is not shy about accepting this fact either.
He says, ‘We are playing at home, and we are playing to win the title. So there will definitely be a lot of pressure on us in the final, we will be a little nervous. But having said that, we are all excited as a team.’ India had defeated England by seven runs in the second semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and it was not only exciting in itself, but it was also a game that put pressure on India.
In a way, India played three knockout matches to make it to the final, because India lost to South Africa in its first match of the Super Eight. Then, India defeated Zimbabwe by 72 runs and defeated the West Indies in a must-win match. Only then did the semi-final match against England become India's destiny. Batting first against Harry Brook's England, India scored 253 runs for the loss of seven wickets.
To reach the victory, India needed the excellent game of Jasprit Bumrah, who is a master of death bowling, in the 18th over. England could not play in that over. Only six runs were scored in Bumrah's last over, and this made England's job very difficult. Jacob Bethell scored a century for England, but even that was not enough for the team. After the victory, not only the team but also the Indian fans celebrated with open hearts.
Captain Suryakumar also believes that the Indian team is lucky to have a player like Bumrah who can win games on his own. He says, "We all know what Bumrah can't do. He has been doing this for the Indian team for a long time. He did the same thing repeatedly against England. His play turned the situation in our favor. In fact, it was a model of excellent performance with the ball."
The biggest stress for India is the poor form of opener Abhishek Sharma and spinner Varun Chakravarthy. Both players are ranked number one in the T20 International rankings. But both have looked pale to a large extent in this tournament. Abhishek was dismissed for duck in the first three matches of the group stage. He was only able to score a half-century when the match against Zimbabwe came. Against Varun, especially the English bowlers scored runs openly at Wankhede. He had 64 runs in his four overs.
Varun has taken only four wickets since the group stage match. On the other hand, Mitchell Santner's performance for New Zealand so far has been full of ups and downs. He was defeated by South Africa and then England at the beginning of the tournament. But New Zealand has been in a decisive mode before the final. As the 'underdog', New Zealand will not lose anything in the final. Opener Tim Seifert has scored three half-centuries in this World Cup.
Most of the time, he has prepared the ground for Allen and Glenn Phillips to play decisive innings. He says, 'So far I have been playing a supporting role. Now Allen is in great form. He is an excellent player. His game has proven what kind of game New Zealand is capable of playing. So it is helping me to play comfortably at the other end.' Seifert scored 58 runs in 33 balls in a partnership of 117 runs for the first wicket against South Africa.
