He has taken seven wickets in four matches so far in the tournament.
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner has played a key role against South Africa in the bid to reach the Champions Trophy 2025 final. He couldn’t contribute with the bat as he faced just one ball, scoring two runs. With the ball, the left-armer wreaked havoc on the Protea line-up. In his seven overs so far, he has already picked up three wickets including the dangerous batter Heinrich Klaasen.
Coach Mike Hesson also lauded the Mumbai Indians bowler.
Why do you think Santner is so underrated when fans are discussing who the best spinners around the world are? He very rarely has a bad day!
— Mike Hesson (@CoachHesson) March 5, 2025
After losing the early wicket of Ryan Rickelton, South Africa were looking good on the Lahore pitch. Skipper Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen stitched a run-a-ball partnership of 105.
Santner got a much-needed breakthrough with Bavuma’s (56) wicket, forcing him to play a loose shot. He then castled van der Dussen (69) with a jaffa. Soon, Santner scalped the wicket of keeper-batter Klaasen, which happened to be South Africa’s strongest hope with the bat.
In his seven overs, he gave away just 29 runs, i.e., a low economy of 4.14. Santner’s heroics came between the overs 23 to 29, making him a formidable spinner in the middle overs of limited-overs cricket.
ALSO READ:
Mumbai Indians (MI) would be happy to see Santner bowl to the South African line-up today. His contributions in the middle overs without leaking runs are exactly what MI require for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Mumbai franchise has a pace attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, and leader Hardik Pandya. Santner and Afghan star Mujeeb Ur Rahman can lead the spin attack, especially at their home ground at Wankhede. Additionally. MI can use the services of Santner with the bat lower down the order.
Bumrah + Boult + Santner = Total cheat code coming in IPL 👌 pic.twitter.com/imyin7E2mQ
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 5, 2025
MI have often struggled due to a lack of quality spinners in their line-up. In IPL 2024, MI played with Piyush Chawla, Shreyas Gopal, and Mohammad Nabi from their spin department. Collectively, they managed only 18 wickets while Bumrah single-handedly scalped 20 wickets.
The MI owners did well at the mega auction picking up two quality players to fill the middle overs of the five-time champions.
Going back to Santner, he has seven wickets under his belt from four games in this tournament so far. At the time of writing this article, South Africa are looking at a mountain with more than 130 runs needed in less than 10 overs. An attacking approach would probably be helpful to scale the target but the batting line-up has already returned to the dugout barring David Miller with bowler Kagiso Rabada on the crease.
On the other hand, the Santner-led team is just two wickets away from confirming their seat in the final against India on March 9 in Dubai.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube
