Jonathan Trott contested the notion of India's home advantage. India in India in bilaterals and India in India in the ICC competitions... he said. Are they two very different propositions? Trott did not say it exactly in as many words, but the emphasis of his remark during the India-England semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2026 was clearly on this. India went on to win that semifinal, seemingly debunking Trott's idea of home jinx.

Yet those words are not entirely baseless and they carry an implicit sign of caution for the Indian fan. With memories of the 2023 final still fresh and Pat Cummins' chilling words about the ultimate 'satisfaction' of silencing 120,000 people still reverberating in the ears, an eerie resonance with that World Cup heartbreak cannot be out of place ahead of the T20 World Cup title clash against New Zealand team at the same venue on Sunday night.

Mitchell Santner did not mind endorsing Cummins's thought of silencing what is expected to be a packed Narendra Modi Stadium, but he also spoke of variables in T20 cricket and mentioned the pressure of expectations for India at home. "Yeah I guess that's the goal isn't it, is to silence the crowd but I think that there are a lot of variables in T20 cricket and it is fickle at times," the New Zealand skipper said on the eve of the final.

"For us it's taking confidence in that, that we can if we go about our business the same way we can upset another big team and I think there's obviously a lot of pressure on India to win this World Cup at home. So if we can go out there and try to put, I guess, the added pressure on them and see what happens."

Much water has flowed under the bridge since November 2023. The triumphs in the 2024 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy (incidentally New Zealand were the opponents in the final) have reinstated India as a powerful force - something that has been continuously established over the last four weeks as Suryakumar Yadav's men have shown they can win the big moments. They are now favourites to become the first country ever to defend the T20 World Cup crown.