Mitchell Santner entered into India as an unknown, but by the time he leaves, everyone will be knowing his name. This 24-year old, left-arm orthodox spinner from Northern Districts took the world by storm with his four-wicket haul against India in the Super 10s opener of the ICC World T20 at Nagpur.
In less than seven days, Santner has gone from being ‘Santner who?’ to New Zealand’s leading spin bowling option. Santner now is the joint third highest wicket-taker in the tournament with six scalps from just two games. The batsmen he has dismissed includes some brilliant players of spin like Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Steve Smith.
Sportskeeda caught up with Santner for an exclusive interview. Here’s what the potential successor to Daniel Vettori had to say:
On starting as a medium pace bowler and switching to spin later:
I used to bowl medium pace, switching to spin was a bit different. Made the switch when I was fifteen, was one of those cases where you had to keep bowling and honestly, stick at it. Something I want to do with my batting also, considering I am an all-rounder. It’s about finding that time, and doing both during training.
On adapting bowling style to suit India:
Yeah, one needs to adapt, especially over here when there’s a little bit of extra turn in the games that we’ve just played in. It’s more about delivering at a faster pace in order to get more purchase from the wicket, something that I did in Dharamsala. Back home, you might try things a little more differently because there’s not much spin on offer.
On bowling to good players of spin like Virat Kohli and Steve Smith:
They are world-class players of spin and usually play you very well using their feet. You make plans for each batsman, and you need to try and stick to your plans. I had a couple of plans, including wanting to control the runs, but it all comes down to match situation.
They are wristy, they play some incredible shots off some good balls so you can’t really get much wrong while bowling to them. You have to stick to your strengths and hope that they make some mistake. On pitches in India you can tend to be aggressive as a spin bowler, but it’s more important to know when to be aggressive.
Against such quality players you mostly need to play a defensive role, unless you have a team strategy where you want to be more attacking.
On filling Daniel Vettori’s boots:
(Laughs) I get that a lot. He’s obviously been a world class bowler from New Zealand for many years now. These are indeed big shoes to fill.
We both might be left-arm spinners, but we are slightly different players. I have always admired him growing up, learnt a lot seeing him bowl – if I can bowl half as good as him, I’d be happy I think.
On New Zealand’s good start and expectations from upcoming games:
We have got a well-balanced side and the results have been good so far. It’s about taking one game at a time.
Pakistan in these conditions will be a very tough side, so will Bangladesh. We have to try and stick to our plans and execute it to the best we can and hope for a win.
On the spinner-friendly surfaces in the competition:
As a spin bowler, I am not complaining. It obviously depends on which part of the world you are in, here in the subcontinent, it’s expected to turn, back in New Zealand you might end up getting green and wet wickets.
You need to assess the conditions early and get down to playing. I think the team that can adapt to the conditions the best will do well in this tournament.
On the Nagpur track and India’s batting show:
There was quite a lot of spin there, and it was a hard surface as well.
At the half way stage we felt that we might have been a little short of par, but knew that the conditions would change a bit and the hardness of the wicket would assist the spinners in getting bounce along with the turn. It was about bowling change-ups, and bowling with extra pace.
We put pressure on the batsmen by bowling in reasonably good areas, although I think the Indians could have got some more runs.
On Kane Williamson the skipper:
Kane is a young and energetic skipper. We all have full confidence in him like he has full confidence in the team. He is very new to the job, and will only get better as he captains more and more. So let’s see.
On younger brother, Elliot - a promising young leg-spinner who plays for Northern Districts:
He bowls decent; he’s been working on his skills for a while now to get it right and has started to play some good games back home.
If he keeps improving, and isn’t nervous when he gets an opportunity, surely I see him playing for the country someday. It’s about making most out of the chance that comes your way.
Both of us are pursuing our studies in engineering. Nature of the game has kept me away from my studies for a while, so I am yet to finish my course. I guess Elliot will be at home, studying all year and will be able to finish it before me. Then I can probably ask him to help me out with it.
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