Mitchell Santner: 'Early Abhishek Sharma wicket helped apply pressure on India'

New Zealand's captain Mitchell Santner (PTI Photo)

After taking key wickets against India in the fourth T20I, in Vishakhapatnam, left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner said his job in T20Is is to bowl defensively, build pressure, and take wickets. He said it was good to see the plan work in the match. Mitchell Santner took 3 wickets for 26 runs as New Zealand beat India by 50 runs at the ACA-VDCA Stadium.

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"I guess my role might be playing a little bit more defensive and trying to get wickets that way. At times you want to be smart, six singles are a good option. We've seen a lot of power hitting, a lot of big scores. So, I think the role as a spinner (in T20Is), unless there is spin, is to build pressure and get wickets that way," said Santner in the post-match press conference. "If you're defending a big score, then let the run rate go up. And if it's a lower score, the only way we stop these guys is getting wickets. So, I think, yeah, it's all about adapting and seeing what's on the table," he added. Santner said that the early wicket of in-form Abhishek Sharma helped New Zealand put pressure on India. Sharma was dismissed for a golden duck (out for 0 on the first ball) in the fourth T20I against New Zealand. "I think in the other games, the guys were flying. Abhishek, you know, it doesn't get any harder than that. And that's why I told the bowlers, that's as hard as it gets. So, it was nice to bounce back," he said. Santner explained his plan, pointing to his dismissal of Hardik Pandya. He said he changed the flight, and Pandya edged the ball to Zak Foulkes near the circle. "I've bowled a lot to Hardik in the Mumbai (Indians) nets and he knows me, I know him. So, I think in that situation, that (being defensive) was the only way we're going to kind of win that game because it's pretty tough to stop the Indian team when they're going," he added. The New Zealand captain praised Dube for his quick 65 off 23 balls "I've seen him (Dube) do that a lot and he hits it very far. But we knew that if we could get him out, they didn't bat as deep as they have in other games. They had Harshit at seven. But I think Dube is very clear in what he wants to do. When the spinner comes on, he knows that that's a good match-up for him." Although India won the series, Santner said the experience of playing different situations in the ODIs and T20Is against the hosts will help New Zealand in next month’s T20 World Cup. "I said that at the start of the series, there's no better prep than playing India in India before the World Cup. Regardless of the result, we were tested a lot in the first few games. But, again, it's learning, it's putting guys in roles to perform. "If we come up against India at some stage or even, you know, the wickets, like we're most likely to get in the World Cup...when you do come up against those pressure situations, again, you can be clear."

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