Ahmedabad: A team of khaki-clad policemen enjoyed a light-hearted moment, clicking selfies at the Narendra Modi Stadium in its raw form before the day. If Mitchell Santner had the time, he might have wanted to use his smartphone, too, to take photos of the stadium, just as Pat Cummins did the day before on November 19, 2023.
Santner was allowed a quick catch from 22 yards out as the canvas was exposed to the Saturday afternoon sun.
Minutes earlier, in his pre-match press conference, Santner had broken away from his Kiwi good-boy image. “We don’t mind breaking a few hearts to win the cup,” he joked. Before game time on Sunday, Santner’s quote will be in the headlines in the same way Cummins’ ad appeared – “We want to silence the public.”
We feel the pitch
The Indian team has learned to move on and won titles after losing in 2023. But the fans in Ahmedabad are waiting for a swing in fortunes. It’s not just about heartbreak against Australia. In the last two weeks, India once again suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of South Africa here. The rational voice in your mind may tell you that there is no such thing as a jinx. But when legacies are at stake, there is a fine line between faith and disbelief.
Motera Stadium in its previous avatar had an old-world charm. Lighted traditional towers, 45,000 yellow and blue bucket seats, a modest gym, and a vast expanse of dusty parking dominated by scooters and scooters. It was a model of what Ahmedabad stands for: a cutting-edge metro.
With the city gravitating towards more cars, a smart city in the neighbourhood, and a bullet train under construction, Ahmedabad’s new city is all about global ambition. The huge setting illustrates this campaign.
Given the hosting of expensive matches – there have been three Indian Premier League finals at the renovated arena along with an ODI World Cup final in five years – the pre-match anticipation always revolves around whether the 100,000 spectator threshold will be broken. By local accounts, this has happened only once before in cricket, during the 2023 Indian Premier League final when Chennai Super Kings beat Gujarat Titans. But 90,000 seats is the norm here for big games, and it’s still a big number.
Too large a crowd can overwhelm the home team. But as the Indian campaign gathered pace, support swelled. The crowds really played the 12th man. It won’t take much to get the crowd pumped up on Sunday, especially after Ricky Martin and Falguni Pathak set the mood at the pre-match closing party.
After a hat-trick of victories in virtual knockout matches against Zimbabwe, West Indies and England, India have begun to justify their heavy favorites status ahead of the tournament.
The biggest problem facing the top-ranked T20I team is that despite having the World No. 1 T20I bowler and bowler in their camp – Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy – both have been struggling.
In Abhishek’s feud, they will continue to trust. But won’t facing Chakravarthy in real stadiums become a concern?
“We are not worried about him at all,” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said about Varun. “He is the No. 1 player in the world. He knows what to do, when and how to face any opponent. He knows how to go forward and win games for us. I am sure he will do that.”
In the pre-match training session on Saturday under the lights, Chakravarthy took it easy while Kuldeep Yadav had a lengthy bowling session.
Powerplay matchups
New Zealand’s striking firepower is loaded to the top. Finn Allen and Tim Seifert beat South Africa, who looked the best team in the tournament, in the semi-final. Does India want to mobilize its spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah, to confront its threat? They will only be able to do this when they make sure they trust their spinners to control the middle overs.
Similar to New Zealand, India’s batting powerplay will dominate the two teams’ pre-match discussions. The Indian top order has not been the most fluent against spin. Especially Abhishek, specifically against spin. Cole McConchie, the 34-year-old Canterbury player who did not receive an SOS message until a month ago, will play the biggest game of his life and is likely to be tasked with making the early push.
Syria and legacy
In all of this, Soria has the opportunity to shape his legacy as a leader. He was one of the eleven players left scarred by the final loss of 2023. He helped India snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a boundary-breaking grab in the final against South Africa in Barbados in 2024.
“It’s my shoes, but it’s his footsteps,” Surya said about following Rohit Sharma’s leadership style. “I’ve tried similar things, with some ideas of my own. It’s been going well. I hope it continues for many more years. We’ve been preparing for this stage really well. We started two years ago. We hope to play good cricket. Be brave in difficult situations.”
