New Zealands ICC Champions Trophy Dreams Shattered: Mitchell Santner Reflects on Final Heartbreak

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy final was a tale of two teams, with India emerging victorious and New Zealand left to ponder what could have been. Captain Mitchell Santner was proud of his team's fighting spirit, but admitted that the loss was a tough pill to swallow. "I guess they're starting to add up a bit now," said Santner, referring to New Zealand's string of ICC final losses. "But yeah, if you make finals, you're coming up against another pretty good team who's also playing some good cricket."

New Zealand had their chances in the final, but ultimately fell short against a strong Indian team. The Kiwis got off to a strong start with the bat, but struggled to maintain the momentum in the middle overs. India's spinners, led by their experienced campaigners, put on a masterclass in bowling to choke the opposition. Santner conceded that the middle-overs meltdown was a crucial part of the final, saying "I think the intent we had with the bat, especially at the start, was outstanding. But 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."

Despite the loss, Santner was full of praise for his team's performance, saying "I think we pride ourselves on, especially in the field, not giving up. And I don't think we did throughout that inning." He also acknowledged the impact of missing his spearhead Matt Henry, who was injured and unable to play in the final. Santner said "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." The New Zealand captain will now look to regroup and rebuild his team, seeking to break their 25-year drought in white-ball trophies.