New Zealand may have lost to India in the group stage of the Champions Trophy in Dubai, but their captain Mitchell Santner believes that putting Rohit Sharma's side under pressure in that encounter gave his team the confidence for their upcoming summit clash on Sunday.
New Zealand beat South Africa by 50 runs in the second semifinal in Lahore on Wednesday to set up a final clash with India in Dubai on Sunday. India had beaten Australia by four wickets in the first semifinal on Tuesday.
Asked about their group stage loss to India in Dubai, Santner said, "Being there in Dubai and putting India under pressure gave us confidence. You take in what things work and what doesn't.
"I think the bowlers bowled well to chip wickets at the top. I think winning the toss will be nice as well," Santner said at the post-match press conference.
India had beaten New Zealand by 44 runs in their last group match on March 2 in Dubai.
"It's a cool feeling to make the final. We were challenged by a good side. We've had a go against India, look forward to do it again."
Pacer Matthew Henry apparently injured himself while fielding and Santner said the team will have to wait and see "how his shoulder is".
"It's a bit sore, we have to wait for a couple of days and see," the captain said.
Talking about Wednesday's match, he said, "The platform we were able to set with Rachin (Ravindra) and Kane (Williamson), and set up the death phase earlier, was great. The finishers did their job."
"The key for the bowlers to keep chipping away with wickets. It was good personally. What we speak about as a group is apply pressure, but still take wickets. It was pleasing to get three pretty good scalps personally," said Santner who returned with figures of 3/43.
"We got four allrounders who bowl spin, that gives depth. GP's two wickets and Rachin's five overs was great."
"Williamson keeps doing it. That partnership was massive, might've been frustrated a touch at times, but they flipped the switch earlier and got us to 360. Looking back, 320 might not have been enough."
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