Heard it all before.
India will be too tough in Indian conditions.
They made it through to the T20 World Cup final early on Monday morning (NZ time) thanks to a tense win against England in the semifinal.
New Zealand pummelled South Africa in the other semi thanks to a 33-ball century and Finn Allen.
Allen is one more innings like that away from immortality and millionaire status.
If he can repeat that effort in the final against India in front of 130,000 noisy fans in Ahmedabad, his net worth in the IPL will skyrocket from the $380,00 he fetched at auction last year to, well, who knows what the upper limit is.
But if there are no Finn-tastic headlines, that space could be taken by a plethora of New Zealanders.
Tim Seifert is seeing the ball beautifully.
Mitchell Santner is frugal.
Rachin Ravindra has been a surprise with the ball, claiming 11 wickets at an average of 10.63.
Matt Henry gets good batters out.
Lockie Ferguson brings heat.
All-rounder Glenn Phillips always finds a way to contribute.
There is talent throughout the lineup.
They are a gutsy team.
But India will be the favourites. They beat the Black Caps 4-1 in India in January.
But this one-off game. And India got clobbered by South Africa by 76 runs in the Super Eights round, so they are not unbeatable.
It is not relevant, but we just wanted to mention New Zealand beat India 3-0 in a test series in India in 2024.
India did look good in a tense semifinal against England, though.
They survived a brilliant hundred from Jacob Bethell.
Put in to bat in front of a packed Wankhede Stadium, the hosts racked up an imposing 253 for seven as Sanju Samson struck a commanding 89, supported by fluent contributions from Shivam Dube and Ishan Kishan.
England looked scratchy at the start, but the chase was kept alive by Bethell, who almost single-handedly threatened to overhaul the target by belting 105 off 48 balls. However, despite a late push from Will Jacks, England finished on 246.
India made a brisk start despite the early loss of top-ranked Abhishek Sharma.
Samson, fresh from his unbeaten 97 against West Indies, took on England’s attack with confidence.
He was handed a reprieve on 15 when captain Harry Brook dropped a simple catch in the third over, and he made England pay, adding 97 with Kishan as India raced to 100 in 8.3 overs.
England then turned to off-pinner Jacks, who removed the wicketkeeper-batter 11 short of his century.
Kishan fell to Adil Rashid, prompting India to promote Dube to No4 and he smashed 43, including four sixes and a four, before a mix-up with Hardik Pandya ended his innings.
Pandya lit up the closing overs alongside Tilak Varma as England fast bowler Jofra Archer endured the costliest T20 international spell of his career, conceding 61 runs.
England lost Phil Salt and Brook inside the powerplay, the latter to a superb catch from Axar Patel at deep cover-point.
Jos Buttler (25) started with a measured approach but never looked fluent, eventually falling to a googly from Varun Chakravarthy.
Bethell kept England alive and gave India a brief scare as he kept piling on the runs, striking eight fours and seven sixes.
He received support from Jacks (35) before the England all-rounder was dismissed thanks to a phenomenal catch, with Patel throwing the ball to Shivam Dube as he crossed the rope.
India held their nerve in the closing overs, with ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah (one for 33) controlling the run flow through pinpoint yorkers.
With England needing 30 to win in the last over, Archer hit a flurry of sixes, but the visitors finished just short of their target. — Additional reporting Reuters
