Jimmy Neesham is plying his trades in the SA20 and Colin De Grandhomme has retired from international cricket to become a freelancer in the franchise World. With both moving away, New Zealand’s all-round stocks are going down. Depth has become an issue, but solutions are coming in the form of spinners Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell.

With the bat, the duo fired in Hyderabad to bring New Zealand back from 131 for 6. Mitchell Santner started the counter-attack and helped New Zealand get within to sixes of India’s target. While Michael Bracewell stole the show with his 140, it was Mitchell Santner who highlighted his own growth in recent months.

Few years ago, he went through a rough period. Dropped from the Test side and enduring a tough injury, Mitchell Santner new a time would come for him to change his style. With the bat, he went on to work on his power game. Knowing he often comes in at seven or eight, Mitchell Santner found a way to clear the fence regularly and is now batting with a lot more positivity.

He is also a lot more calculative with the bat as he displayed the other night. With a long way to go, he measured his positive intent and worked his way into the innings steadily. With the ball to, Mitchell Santner has grown into a senior figure. Owing to Ish Sodhi’s injury, a lot more responsibility came onto Mitchell Santner.

Having bowled in India, Santner has an idea on how pitches behave and how to use the spin on offer. Santner additionally adds with his ability to use the new-ball. With dry conditions in Raipur and a very small target to defend Santner managed to still find a way to make his figures look good. He took the big wicket of Virat Kohli.

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As a spinner, he knows the importance of this tour. Given the World Cup is in the same country in a few months, Santner will be looking to make the most of his opportunity. With Sodhi likely to comeback from injury soon, Santner will hope to identify a role that allows New Zealand to field three spinners. Outside the trio, the likes of Rachin Ravindra are options too, leaving New Zealand well placed for a subcontinent World Cup.

With the ball likely to spin in the final game too, despite being a dead rubber, Mitchell Santner will hope to add some danger to the line-up. He has seamlessly fallen into his role as the spin-bowling all-rounder and is proving to be a multi-utility player.