HYDERABAD: Mitchell Santner turned in another match-winning performance for New Zealand to take them atop the points table with a 99-run win over Netherlands at the RGIC Stadium, here on Monday night. The left-arm spinner is also on top of the bowling charts – in the two matches he bagged seven wickets with a five-wicket haul against Netherlands. This, incidentally, is the first five-wicket haul at this ground in ODI cricket.
However, the Kiwi is not too happy with his show. “Yeah, it was obviously nice to get the rewards. I don't think I bowled as well as I did in Ahmedabad. Probably missed a little bit more, but it was nice to keep trying to be aggressive and get wickets. I guess that's the only way we can kind of slow the batters down in the middle of the ODI innings - to take wickets. And I thought, as a bowling unit, we did that very well. Guys coming back, still being aggressive, trying to take wickets, and managed to chip them out along the way. And it was nice to get the win in the end,” Santner said.
On back to back wins, he said: “Yes, obviously a nice start. We knew that turning up today after the highs of beating England, we couldn't get too complacent. We know the Netherlands are a good team and they almost touched up Pakistan the other day, so it was obviously nice to get the win tonight. It's another two points, but you got to move on pretty quickly in this tournament.”
Santner also did his bit with the willow – he struck an unbeaten 37 off 17 balls. “Yeah, I think wicket was, slightly on the slower side. I thought they bowled well, especially their spinners. Yeah, it looked like we were kind of setting up a bigger score and they, managed to pull it back and get a couple of wickets. So, I guess when I went in, it was still that kind of ‘take it as deep as we can’ and then try to have a couple of big overs at the end, which luckily enough we did, to get up to 320,” he said.
On his playing in Chennai, he said: “You move on to your home away from home now, which is the Chennai Super Kings. You're playing two sides which are quite spin-heavy, and from what we saw last night in India-Australia, it's not going to be easy, is it?”
“No, not at all. We knew that going into the tournament that Chennai has that nature of being a bit spinny and it did, especially in the first innings the other night. And they're obviously good players of spin, so it's going to be a challenge just like every other game is going to be in this World Cup. I think we're going to see teams beat teams and have upsets. We've got to be prepared for both those next coming games. Obviously first is Bangladesh and if it is something similar to the other night, it could be spinning a little bit in the daytime and then start to skid on a little bit and get a little bit dewy second innings so we've got to be prepared for both,” he added.
On winning against the Netherlands, he said: “I guess today It looked like a pretty good wicket - we were probably thinking 300 is probably par and we were obviously searching for it. I think we were in a position to get a little bit more than that. But we kind of lost wickets when we wanted to really go, in that kind of 30 to 40 over mark, which we know is - on the flip side bowling - that's obviously the tougher time when batters are looking to come hard.
“I think we're reasonably happy with 320. But we know that under the lights here, it does skid on a little bit. I think we'll probably see that throughout this whole tournament where it might swing a little bit in the second innings, but it definitely looks like it comes on a bit.”
On the fitness of Kane Williamson, he said: “Kane's looking good. He's hitting a lot of balls in the nets, and I don't think he was obviously quite fit tonight. We've still got a few days before the next game, a couple more training so I guess the team will make a call then if he's ready to play but yeah, he's chomping at the bit, he wants to come in. But I guess it's more down to the medical team and where they think he's at. But yeah, no doubt when he comes back, it's going to be good for us.”
On his improvement as a spinner, he said: “Yeah, it's obviously nice to come over here and see some spinning wickets because they're few and far between back in New Zealand. I guess the role in New Zealand is slightly different to here. You want to be a little bit more aggressive. You keep your slips in for longer. I try to operate with that mid-on up most of the time, only having three back, trying to make them play big shots. And if it is spinning, yeah, the role is kind of more aggressive. And then I think we'll see at times throughout this tournament in some of the grounds where it might be, okay, it's pretty flat, it might be that defensive role for a little bit, try to get wickets through pressure. And then if it is, like tonight, if there is a little bit of spin, it might be, all right, let's be more aggressive. Let's throw it up, leave the slip in. And so that was nice. I think Rachin bowled extremely well as well, that kind of same mentality of always trying to get wickets through the middle.”
