ICC World Cup: India look pretty tough to beat, feels Santner
CHENNAI: Buoyed by a creditable victory against Afghanistan on Wednesday, New Zealand who have won all four matches that they have played so far in the World Cup, are keen to carry the momentum when they meet India in their next game at Dharamsala. The Black Caps are known to perform to potential at World Cups and thus one can expect a keen tussle against the Rohit Sharma-led side on Sunday.
New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner believes that assessing the conditions in Dharamsala and countering a confident-looking India will be the key to their teams' success. He insists that the task would be tough but is confident that his team would play to potential. The Kiwis have so far done well to adapt to the different conditions in the tournament. The Black Caps have played at
Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai (two games).
''We know they're (India) going to obviously be a challenge at home. They look pretty tough to beat. We'll have to do our assessment in Dharamsala, see what the wicket's going to do. And obviously, there has been a little pace and bounce. But whether that is the case when we play them, we'll see. So yeah, we've just got to keep focused on the things we want to and how we want to play. Obviously, it's nice to be in this position to lead into this game," said Santner said after New Zealand's 149-run win over Afghanistan.
The Indian captain is leading by example and is a good form too so are the top-order of India. ''I think Powerplay with the ball is going to be very important. The way Rohit is getting them off to a flyer. And so, I think we have to do similar stuff to what we're doing. I guess you're never going to play a perfect game so for us, it's two points. That's what we look to get out of every game depending on who we're playing and what we've done well through this tournament is being able to adapt to different conditions,'' said Santner.
''Every pitch we've played on has been slightly different. We have to treat it very similarly leading into the game against India, assess the conditions, see what's going to work the best with the ball, with the bat, build those partnerships and try to take them deep and see what happens," added the CSK all-rounder.
South Africa bowling coach Eric Simons in a chat with this daily had said that New Zealand is a dark horse to win the tournament.
They have so far beaten holders England, Netherlands and Bangladesh apart from Afghanistan.
"We've just got to kind of keep doing what we have done, keep focused on the things we want to do and how we want to play. And obviously, it's nice to be in this position to lead into this game (India). We obviously know it's such a long tournament, and one loss isn't going to hurt you if you win the rest, or you kind of look at that at the start," explained Santner.
Santner on Wednesday became the second New Zealand spinner after his hero Daniel Vettori to take 100 ODI wickets.
He relished the unique feat. "Yeah, it's obviously nice to get to that milestone. Yeah, I guess I wasn't thinking about it too much leading into the game; it's just (about) trying to perform my role and do a job out there just like every other game and I think I'm 200 odd wickets behind him (laughs), so it's going to be a tough challenge to get there,'' said Santner.
''But yeah, I obviously watched a lot of him (Vettori) do his thing over a long period of time. And I guess with the absence of T20 cricket, they played a lot of one-dayers, so it might be pretty tough to get there now," he added.
Santner now has 102 wickets in ODIs, plus 11 wickets in the tournament so far. He is currently the highest wicket-taker in the World Cup with India's Jasprit Bumrah and Kiwi Matt Henry second and third respectively with 10 and nine wickets each. Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson have also contributed handsomely to New Zealand's unbeaten run so far.
''It's obviously nice to come here (India) and see the ball spin a little bit. They're kind of far, you don't really get those (pitches) in New Zealand. So, yeah, I think as a whole, the bowling, we've been bowling in partnerships, that's what we talk about. I mean the guys upfront today Boult and Matt Henry did an exceptional job in getting that run rate up and then it kind of makes them (Afghanistan batters) want to play bigger shots. I think as a partnership, as a unit, we've been bowling pretty well and I was lucky to chip in on Wednesday for a few, but I think the way the seam (attack) has kind of set that up was massive for us,'' opined Santner.