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IND vs NZ 2023: Santner currently best spinner in white-ball cricket, lucky to have him, says Mitchell

Mitchell Santner returned with figures of 2/11 from his four overs to set up New Zealand's 21-run win over India in the first T20I of the three-match series on Friday.

IND vs NZ 2023: Santner currently best spinner in white-ball cricket, lucky to have him, says Mitchell snt
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First Published Jan 28, 2023, 4:03 PM IST

Daryl Mitchell, an all-rounder for New Zealand, says Mitchell Santner, the interim T20 skipper, is currently among the top spinners in white-ball cricket following the left-arm tweaker's strong performance against India in the series opener in Ranchi.

In the opening T20I of the three-match series on Friday, Santner returned with the figures of 2/11 from his four overs to set up New Zealand's 21-run victory over India.

Also read: Dhoni fans upset after New Zealand outplay India by 21 runs in first T20I in Ranchi

Santner bowled a splendid spell and kept India under check by bowling a maiden over to Suryakumar Yadav in the powerplay.

"He is one of the best spinners in world cricket with the white ball at the moment," Mitchell, who was adjudged man-of-the-match for his 30-ball unbeaten 50, said at the post-match media interaction. 

He picked up the wicket of in-form Shubman Gill, who inspired India to a 3-0 sweep over the Kiwis in the preceding ODI series.

"He (Santner) keeps proving his class. It was a very special spell by him that put us in a good position to win. He has done it for a long time now, we are very lucky to have him," Mitchell said. 

IND vs NZ 2023: Santner currently best spinner in white-ball cricket, lucky to have him, says Mitchell snt

Put in, New Zealand got off to a fine start with opener Devon Conway smashing 52 off 35 balls, while Finn Allen made a quickfire 35 off 23 balls as the visitors set India a challenging target of 177. 

"I thought the partnerships that Finn and Dev (Conway) did early and obviously Glenn (Phillips) and Dev as well allowed us to take the innings deeper and allowed us to put some pressure on India towards the end of the innings," Mitchell said. 

"It was about constantly adapting, trying to find ways to put pressure back on their bowlers." 

Also read: It was just one-off game, says Washington Sundar after India's loss to NZ in Ranchi T20I

On the spin-friendly Ranchi track, New Zealand spinners -- Santner, Ish Sodhi (1/30) and Michael Bracewell (2/31) -- picked up five wickets for 72 runs from 11 overs to derail India's chase.

"It was definitely challenging at times through the middle, especially with the spinners," Mitchell said. 

"I guess that gave us confidence going into it with the ball that with 180 odd on the board, if we could bowl really well and build some pressure and hopefully the dew doesn't come down, then we knew we'd be in that ballpark," he added.

(With inputs from PTI)

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