Cricket: Black Caps lost World Cup final in the powerplays - Santner

The Black Caps are rueing poor performances in both powerplays in their Twenty20 World Cup loss to India - prolonging their wait for a maiden white-ball World Cup title.

Defending champions India thumped New Zealand by 96 runs in Monday morning's (NZT) final in Ahmedabad.

Batting first, the co-hosts posted a big total of 255/5. Indian batter Sanju Samson top scored with 89 runs, with fellow opener Abhishek Sharma and No.3 Ishan Kishan both scoring half-centuries.

Despite a half-century from opener Tim Seifert, New Zealand couldn't keep up with the required run rate. Captain Mitchell Santner scored 43 runs at the back of the innings, but it was never going to be enough, and the visitors were eventually all-out for 159.

Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets for India, which became the first team in history to win back-to-back men's T20 World Cup titles. It's also India's biggest win in a T20 World Cup match.

"They showed their class again tonight with that batting performance," Black Caps captain Mitch Santner told reporters.

"That was the tale of the day - the two powerplays. I think we were three for 40-odd and they were 90-odd for none."

Samson and Sharma provided an explosive push and rattled up 92 runs in the six powerplay overs. In contrast, New Zealand's top-order slipped to 52-3 inside six overs, and the chase never quite took off.

Santner said the run chase was always likely to ride on surviving the first six overs and keeping wickets for a surge later, which did not happen.

"You're not going to win a chase in the powerplay, but you can lose one. If we pick up a couple early and squeeze the middle, maybe 220 is on. At 250, you need a lot to go your way."

New Zealand bowler Jimmy Neesham picked up three wickets in the 16th over, but the damage was done early on.

"Whether it was to be braver with yorkers or bouncers, we tried a lot of cutters into the wicket that weren't offering much," Santner said.

"We all know we weren't at our best tonight, and if you're not at your best against a very good team in a final, you get exposed."

The Black Caps have a long history of reaching deep into tournaments but have lost multiple finals. They were one day international runners-up in 2015 and 2019, and have now become bridesmaids in two T20 World Cups.

More than 86,000 predominantly Indian supporters packed into Narendra Modi Stadium - the world's largest cricket ground - and Santner praised the hosts' execution.

"There was definitely a lot of pressure on India in front of so many people, and they did it outstandingly well."

Santner told Sky Sport he was proud of his team.

"To make it this far, obviously we had some challenges throughout the tournament but at each stage we kind of got through and put on a good show, obviously tonight we were outplayed by a very good team in front of a great crowd."

Santner said the Black Caps did a lot right to reach the final, including a very good win over South Africa in the semi-final.

"Different guys stepped up at different times throughout every stage. I think we were confronted with challenges throughout every stage and it was nice to get through, and super eights and then the semi-final, we put on a pretty good show - but I guess tonight we were outplayed, but the boys should be very proud of their work."

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