New Zealand’s left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner reckons that the upcoming home series against India will be a high-scoring affair. He is still recovering from a long-term knee injury. However, Team India, who last played in New Zealand in 2014-15, will face the BlackCaps in a five-match ODI series and three T20Is beginning with the first ODI on January 23 in Napier.
Talking about the same, Mitchell said, “Both teams have changed a lot since then [the 2014 tour]. India has performed in England and against [Australia] in conditions similar to that of New Zealand. It depends on how quickly they [India] can adapt to those conditions. If they can hit the ground running on those home conditions for us, it’s going to make for a very interesting series. It can be a high-scoring series with the nature of grounds and wickets [on offer].”
When asked about the conditions that will be on offer in January, Santner said that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his team has been scoring a lot of runs at the moment, but they haven’t played in New Zealand for four years. So, there are certain chances that the men in blue will like the Kiwi conditions, where it’s quite flat, with not a lot of turn. And obviously, if bowl doesn’t swing much, the series can be high-scoring.
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According to Santner, the Indian spinners will play a crucial in the middle overs. He said, “With the nature of flat wickets, the wrist spinners can spin the ball both ways. The key to ODI cricket is to get wickets in the middle overs. The wrist spinners – they might leak a lot more runs but have the option of getting more wickets too.”
Speaking of his knee injury, Mitchell said that’s looking to make a comeback for the India series. He is hopeful of joining the team in the home summer and get some wickets.
Santner also felt that both teams can gather momentum for the ICC World Cup in England and Wales. He concluded, “The series will be a good test for both the sides leading into the World Cup and I guess in similar conditions. Both the teams will be looking forward to the competition and to take some momentum into the World Cup.”
