We pride ourselves in not giving up, and we didn't - Santner

Getting to the semifinal or the final of ICC tournaments is no mean feat but when you keep faltering at the final hurdles for a while, it can become a mental block sooner than later. Ask India, who had hit a drought of ICC titles across formats since 2013, a lean patch that only ended in 2024 with the T20 World Cup title. In between, they made it to semifinals aplenty and also a few finals across formats, only to be denied. Ironically, one of the finals, the World Test Championship clash, was New Zealand's first major silverware since their 2000 Champions Trophy win.

However, when it comes to white-ball trophies, New Zealand are still 25 years and counting since the day when they lifted the title in Nairobi. They have made it to five white-ball ICC tournament finals during this period, the latest being this clash in Dubai, but have not managed to get across the line. Captain Mitchell Santner put on a brave face regarding these stats but also admitted that his side needed to break the jinx sooner than later.

"I guess they're starting to add up a bit now," said Santner at the post-match press conference. "But yeah, if you make finals, you're coming up against another pretty good team who's also playing some good cricket. So, I think I was proud with the way we fought tonight. I think we pride ourselves on, especially in the field, not giving up. And I don't think we did throughout that inning. So, I guess, it's bittersweet. You always want to win one of these. And I don't know how many more chances we'll get. But yeah, I think this is up there for us. I think we were playing some good cricket leading into this and we thought we were in with a real sniff today, but I guess we just got beaten by a good team."

Sunday's defeat was New Zealand's second successive loss in an ICC knockout game against India, following the 2023 ODI World Cup semifinal in Mumbai. However, the Black Caps did have an edge prior to these games when it came to ICC knockout games against India. That said, New Zealand's inability to come up trumps in the big games has been a pattern. They were outplayed in the final of the 2009 Champions Trophy and 2015 ODI World Cup by Australia, although they came ever so close to lifting the ODI World Cup title in 2019, only to be undone in the Super Over against England.

The 2021 T20 World Cup final was a golden opportunity for New Zealand but once again, their Trans-Tasman neighbours spoiled the party to register their first-ever T20 world title in Dubai. That venue came back to bite the Kiwis once more on Sunday as they ended up on the wrong side of yet another ICC final, this time against India, in what was a tense final. Reflecting on this, Santner wasn't quite able to point a finger at what could be the missing piece for his side.

"I guess we just keep coming up against India, which is always a challenge. You've got to acknowledge that it's a massive game. But I think the way you go about it is you treat it as we've been doing throughout the tournament. We knew the conditions were going to be slightly different again from the semi-final, but we were ready for that. I thought we still put in a pretty good performance, and we took India deep. But I guess there's always a few moments in every game, let alone every final, where you can potentially look back at. I guess just the way we kind of keep sticking at it, the way we fought, pretty proud of the group for doing that."

Unlike most tournaments held in the UAE over the years, the Champions Trophy games didn't have dew as a factor. It explained why Santner opted to bat after winning the toss, having done the opposite during the league fixture against India. That game, albeit on a drier and turning surface, saw New Zealand fall well short in a run chase of 240-plus. The strip used in the final, though, appeared to be a better batting surface but Santner had no regrets over the decision at the toss.

"I think there was probably a little bit more turn in the second innings, I think it was a pretty consistent pitch all the way through. I guess coming off the semi-final where we feel like if we get a total we can squeeze teams and we did that for a majority of this game, but yeah, I think outside of the powerplay with the bat we kind of lost a couple pretty quickly - and then it was definitely a hard wicket to start on and then yeah, I think we probably left maybe 25 out there, and then there may have been a different game."

Indeed, the game could have been a lot different had New Zealand gotten past the 275-run mark. It was a score they were on track to get, more so after a strong PowerPlay that yielded 69 runs. However, India's spinners yet again put on a middle-overs masterclass in bowling to choke the opposition. New Zealand's batters too struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking and the run rate saw a massive dip during this phase. Eventually, it took a breezy Michael Bracewell to even get past 250. Santner conceded the middle-overs meltdown as a crucial part in the final.

"I think the intent we had with the bat, especially at the start, was outstanding. It was clear probably the best time to bat was the powerplay. And I think the way we went about it for the first kind of eight overs or so was outstanding. And then it took some brilliance from the spin bowlers to kind of really peg us back and make it, I guess, challenging through that kind of middle phase. Yeah, we didn't, I guess after the start, we were probably thinking 280, 275. But the way they were able to squeeze and build pressure, and then, the way Michael Bracewell played at the end got us up to that 250 mark, but it was maybe looking a little bit less."

Despite being a slightly under-par total, New Zealand may have felt a lot more confident had they had their spearhead Matt Henry available. As it turned out, the pacer had to miss out on the final after failing to recover fully from the shoulder strain suffered while fielding in the semifinal. Henry's dominance over India's top-order has been well-documented, notably in the 2019 World Cup semifinal and in the league game this tournament. Santner confessed his strike bowler's absence as a key setback in such a big game.

"He's an outstanding bowler as we've seen, he seems to be able to nip it on wickets that don't look like they should nip. I guess we missed that today, and I feel for Matty - he's a massive team man and like you said, he looked pretty distraught. We just kind of said, like, let's do it for him. To come this far and then be injured for the main event was obviously pretty tough for him and I guess for us, but yeah, he tried everything he could to be ready for this game and unfortunately for us he wasn't quite there."

Santner was also full of praise for his counterpart Rohit Sharma whose dazzling fifty at the top of the order also won him the Player of the Match award. Heading into the summit clash, Rohit hadn't gotten a big score although he did register a few quick cameos along the way. Santner felt that Rohit's assault at the top was a decisive phase in the game, particularly given that the Indian captain managed to bat a bit deeper than usual.

"I guess if you would ask Rohit before the tournament which game he'd like to score the most runs, it'd probably be the final. But I think his approach, he puts fear in bowlers. They're kind of aggressive in nature. I think him and Shubman adapted well. Shubman will wait for a bad ball, but Rohit is pretty happy to hit bowlers off their lengths. And I guess the way he goes about it, you might fail a few times, but, like he did today, if you can really get your team off to a flyer, especially on a slow wicket, you put yourself kind of ahead of the game. And like their power play with the bat was good, and then, you know, I guess we're kind of on the back foot from there with him being probably 100 for none. So yeah, I think the way he goes about it, he might fail every now and then, but he can potentially turn one game just by the way he kind of goes about and he did that tonight."

Despite Rohit's assault and a century opening stand, there was a brief phase where New Zealand really threatened to turn the game on its head. After the first drinks break of the chase, India slipped from 105-0 to 122/3 in the space of 46 deliveries. The wickets came as a result of unerring accuracy from the Kiwi spinners, led by Santner and Bracewell. The New Zealand captain was seen chatting animatedly during the drinks break and whatever he said back then surely did work a treat.

"We just needed to get Rohit Sharma out by the looks of it. They got off to a good start with some good batting and a good partnership. But I think we still felt through the middle stages; you could really squeeze the new batters. It looked like a tough wicket to start on, as it was the other day here. So, we're still trying to be aggressive with the ball. Just told someone to potentially change the game with a catch or run out of something. And I think we were still able to chip wickets out. I think there was a little period of play there before Rohit got out that we definitely started to squeeze and you could kind of feel something happening. But I think to go run-a-ball 70 or 80 on that wicket was a pretty good knock."