Chennai home comforts help Mitch Santner set World Cup standard

And the New Zealand spinner had the added boost of home advantage against Afghanistan on Wednesday, coming out to play at the home ground of his Indian Premier League franchise, Chennai Super Kings.

Playing in-front of his CSK fans, Santner helped New Zealand rattle through Afghanistan’s middle and lower order, finishing with figures of 3/39 in his team’s 149-run win.

“I guess when we turn up here for IPL, we've played on wickets that kind of look similar to that,” Santner said in reference to his experience of conditions at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

“Today, it looked like it swung a little bit and actually spun a little bit more under lights, which kind of helped that we lost the toss and batted first.”

Santner’s impressive start to the tournament sees him top the wicket-taking charts across all teams, with 11 to his name in New Zealand’s four matches to date.

And his first wicket in Chennai on Wednesday saw him become just the second Black Caps spinner to reach 100 One Day International dismissals, following in the footsteps of fellow spinner Daniel Vettori.

“It's obviously nice to get to that milestone,” the left-arm spinner said.

“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.

“I think I'm 200 odd wickets behind him, so it's going to be a tough challenge to get there.”

Santner’s excellent start on the Indian pitches not only sees him top the overall wicket-taking charts, but has seen him take almost double the tally of the next highest spinner in that list – Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan.

But the 31-year-old says the secret to his success has more been down to benefitting from pressure built by his team’s opening bowlers.

“It's obviously nice to come here and see the ball spin a little bit, you don't really get those (wickets) in New Zealand," Santner noted.

“I think as a whole, we've been bowling in partnerships, that's what we talk about. The guys up front today Boult and Matt Henry did an exceptional job in getting that run rate up, and then it kind of makes them want to play bigger shots in the middle (overs).

“I think as a partnership, as a unit, we've been bowling pretty well and I was lucky to chip in today for a few. But I think the way the seam has kind of set that up was massive for us.”

Utilised most often in the middle overs, Santner says that bowling in tandem with Kiwi speedster Lockie Ferguson is also a huge advantage for him.

“I guess that kind of middle phase – the key is to try to take wickets. It's obviously challenging at times when teams obviously use that phase to kind of set up a platform and then have wickets in hand to attack the last 10-15 overs," Santner added.

“So, I guess it's nice for me when he (Ferguson) is bowling 150 (km/h) out of the other end, because they might try to take me on a bit more and not face that. I'd do the same if I was batting to be fair.

“On a day if he is potentially going for runs, it might be more my job to kind of hold it. And then flipping and adapting depending on the surfaces. So, it obviously started pretty good today. And then it started to spin a little bit later on, which was nice.”

It wasn’t just with the ball that Santner impressed against Afghanistan, with his outstanding catch helping remove the opposition’s skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi.

“I didn't think I was going to get there at the start, but I guess lucky for me I've got very long arms and was able to kind of pluck it out. So yeah, I was obviously happy it stuck and it was at quite a key time of the game," Santner said.

“I think Lockie's kind of expression said it all – I think it was more of a surprise I caught it versus a great catch. So, I might have to have a word!”

New Zealand continue winning run as Afghanistan rue missed chances

Next up for Santner and his unbeaten New Zealand team are tournament hosts India in Dharamsala on Sunday.