‘India has pressure of 1.5 billion people, they’ve already lost a final in Ahmedabad’: Shoaib Akhtar on India facing home pressure against New Zealand | Cricket News
3 min readMar 7, 2026 02:43 PM IST The last time India played a World Cup final at Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad, it was in the 2023 ODI World Cup when the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team lost by six wickets against Australia. With the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team facing New Zealand in the final at Ahmedabad on Sunday, it will be the fourth time the two nations will be facing each other in a T20 World Cup match. With New Zealand winning all the three encounters against India in T20 World Cup history, the Mitchell Santner’s New Zealand side will hope to stun the defending champions and win their maiden World Cup title. Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes that India will also have the pressure of ‘1.5 billion fans’ as well as memories of the 2023 ODI World Cup final loss against Australia at the same ground. “If the wicket at Ahmedabad grips and if it’s favourable for spinners, the par score will be around 200 or 175. Safe score would be 200 …









