‘Felt a bit harder this time’ – Mitchel Santner reflects on 13-wicket haul against India in Pune Test

Mitchell Santner. (Source – Jio Cinema)

Mitchell Santner swept Indian batting line-up away in the second Test to lead New Zealand to their first Test series win in India. The left-arm spinner picked 13 wickets across two innings to hand over India their first Test series loss at home in 12 years. He picked seven wickets in the first innings conceding 53 runs and six in the second innings leaking 104 runs. 

7/53 became his career best figures in Tests and the bowler admitted that he felt better every time he picked a wicket. The biggest highlight of his spell was that he picked India’s star batters, Rohit Sharma once and Virat Kohli in both innings. He also credited India for fighting hard and making things uneasy for New Zealand in between.

Also Read: Rohit comments after India’s home streak of 12 years was broken in Pune

“Felt a bit harder this time. Credit to India the way they came out. We knew they were going to fire some shots; that was probably the best play on that wicket. [Yashasvi] Jaiswal played extremely well. But we were just trying to hang in there and hopefully one had their name on it. Great feeling in the end,” said Santner as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“I guess every time you take wickets, you get a little bit of confidence. A few wickets under your belt is always nice. The belief… kind of land the ball on the same spot for a long time, the odd change of pace, and yeah, that’s all we’re trying to do as a spin unit,” he added.

With this win, New Zealand registered their only fourth Test victory in India. They lead the series 2-0 and can potentially break another of India’s record of not suffering a whitewash in Tests since 2000. Both teams will tussle in the final game of the series at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai from November 1.