‘If there’s no pressure there’s no fun’: India look to slay ghosts of 2023 in T20 World Cup final

The Narendra Modi Stadium is a spectacular, enormous dome, the largest cricket ground in the world. On Sunday night it will contain 130,000 people, the vast majority clad in India’s blue, and one ghost that terrifies them all.

This was supposed to be the site of India’s coronation as 50-over world champions in November 2023. But on an awkward surface, later rated average by the International Cricket Council, their batters struggled and Australia beat them comfortably.

Just 28 months later India return to play another World Cup final, in a different format, and seeking a very different outcome. “The circle has come to the same stadium that we left in 2023,” said Suryakumar Yadav. “Of course there are nerves. There will be butterflies in the stomach. But if there’s no pressure there’s no fun. So I’m very excited, and I’m sure the whole of India is excited.”

Excited, certainly, but acutely aware of those old scars – even if few players share them given that in Suryakumar and Jasprit Bumrah India’s likely XI contains only two survivors from 2023. “We just want to keep things very simple, not complicate anything,” Suryakumar said. “We’ve been trying to do the right things and we’ll try to do the same things.”

While one captain aims to alleviate the burden of expectation, the other will try to exacerbate it. “There’s a lot of pressure on them to win this World Cup at home,” said Mitchell Santner, the New Zealand captain. “I mean, it would be pretty cool to win a home World Cup but that comes with a lot of added pressure. So we’ll go out there and try to put some more pressure on them, and see what happens. I guess the goal is to silence the crowd.”

This stadium contains pitches laid on black soil, typically slow, helpful for spinners and less so for batters, and others on red soil, where the bounce is more consistent and scoring more straightforward. The 2023 final was played on a black-soil pitch, as was the only game the hosts have lost in this tournament, to South Africa in the Super 8s. On a red soil pitch the South Africans cantered to 177 with nearly three overs to spare to beat New Zealand in the opening groups.

Mitchell Santner said New Zealand would look to quieten the crowd. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP

Sunday’s final will be played on a mixture of both soil types and is expected to be similar to the pitch in Mumbai on which India romped to 253 in knocking England out in the semi-finals. It has been used once in this tournament, almost a month ago, when South Africa scored 213 against Canada and won by 53 runs.

Since 2023, India have become accustomed to success, collecting a T20 World Cup, a Champions Trophy and an Asia Cup. They know all about winning, just not here. New Zealand, meanwhile, reached the finals of the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, the 2021 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy and lost them all – though they did beat India in the World Test Championship final in 2021 – and are fighting the perception that they are an amiable and estimable team, but one that wins hearts and not titles.

“We’re pretty consistent in these tournaments because we try not to get overawed by the situation or opponents, we just go out there and do our thing,” said Santner. “Everyone knows we’re probably not the favourites but we don’t mind, we know if we do the little things well and put in a strong team performance it’ll put us in a pretty good position. I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hearts and lifting a trophy for once.”