Watch: Mitchell Santner's excellent reflex caught and bowled against Sanju Samson
Setting up Sanju Samson with fine pace variations and straightness of the line, Mitchell Santner got him out caught and bowled.
Doing Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson in with a slower ball, Mitchell Santner ended with an excellent reflex catch at the other end in an IPL 2022 league stage encounter on Friday (May 20) night.
The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left-arm spinner pulled off one of the most impressive caught and bowled dismissals one will see.
Cramping Samson for the room with a slower one, Santner saw the ball thump towards him at head height. But the spinner was upto task and made a timely jump to collect the ball when Samson looked like finding a certain boundary.
The tall statured Mitchell Santner denied Samson the four runs off a well-timed stroke as he flew vertically to take a stupendous catch and helped dismiss the dangerous RR batter.
Mitchell Santner's superb reflex catch
The wicket was seen at the halfway mark in the ninth over of RR's run-chase. Batting just 15 off 19 balls at the time, Samson was itching to get going with his team in quest to overhaul CSK's 150/6 made in the first half.
A street-smart customer, Santner gauged Samson's intentions well and kept denying him the flourish of the hands to the off-side by varying his pace and bowling it as straight as possible.
Off one such ball, Samson went a little leg side and tried to fetch a boundary over Santner's head. But the batter was denied his free-me stroke by the spinner's height and athleticism, with him jumping to collect an excellent catch.
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Despite the ball being hit with brute force towards his way and seeming like flying over his head, Santner made a valiant attempt by timing his jump to perfection and using his tall stature to very good effect.
Often slipping under the radar, Mitchell Santner has been a very effective T20 spinner for New Zealand and CSK in the IPL, and the way he set up the wicket of Samson was another fine example of it.
From Samson's perspective, it was an innings to forget for the RR skipper heading into the playoffs where he will be hoping to regain his best form and take his team to the coveted IPL trophy.