New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner, who recently returned to the senior team after recovering from an injury, has showered praise on the Indian team, which has an unbeatable lead of 3-0 in the five-match ODI series.
He feels Black Caps’ inability to strike upfront and get into the Indian middle order early has cost them the ongoing series.
Santner said, “We are playing a very good side … I do think we’re not too far off. I think the plans have been pretty solid – maybe the execution’s been off at times. I guess the key for us is to keep taking wickets through the middle, keep being aggressive. They obviously hate getting out – just got to find ways to try and get wickets.”
“With the bat, it’s trying to build those partnerships throughout. We saw a good one between Ross [Taylor] and Tom [Latham] last game, then we lost a couple and we fell over a bit. They’ve bowled very well in the top 10 and we haven’t really got away so if we can get through the first 10 [overs] with wickets in hand then set up the back-end where we’ve got some power hitters that we can get to a pretty good total,” he added.
This is only the second time in India’s One-day cricket history that they have registered a bilateral triumph in New Zealand.