“Bowlers did the job upfront”: Mitchell Santner lavishes praise on NZ seamer after win over Bangladesh

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner hailed the bowling unit for a superb display in the powerplay after their 17-run victory according to the DLS method against Bangladesh in the third and final T20I of three-match series on Sunday.
A four-wicket haul by Mitchell Santner and fiery knocks by Finn Allen and James Neesham helped New Zealand secure a 17-run win over Bangladesh in the third T20I via DLS method on Sunday.
Bangladesh fought till the end in the final T20I but couldn’t get across the line due to a lacklustre batting performance and stellar bowling from the hosts.
Santner believes that New Zealand bowled effectively as a group and did not enable Bangladesh to run away with a large total. Star pacer Tim Southee returned with a figure of 2/25 while Adam Milne and Ben Sears finished with two-wicket hauls respectively. Santner shone both with bat and ball as he bagged four wickets conceding just 16 runs while playing a crucial inning of 18 runs.
“It was nice to win. I was just thinking of changing the pace and getting bounce. The seamers bowled extremely well too. It does, for sure. We knew the powerplay was key. Not easy to bowl in the powerplay and we did well to pick up wickets. I could come in after that and float some up. We always knew there was going to be rain. The bowlers did the job up front and good to get across the line. Tough series overall,” Santner said in an post-match presentation.
The three-match T20I series has ended in a 1-1 draw. The second T20I could not produce a result due to rain.
Coming to the third T20I, New Zealand put Bangladesh to field first. Soumya Sarkar (4) was quickly removed by Tim Southee. Rony Talukdar and skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto got a solid start but could not get going as Ben Sears trapped Talukdar lbw for just 10 while Adam Milne removed Shanto for 17 after he offered an easy catch to Finn Allen.
Bangladesh was 41/3 in 5.3 overs. At the end of the powerplay in six overs, Bangladesh was 45/3. The visitors reached the 50-run mark in 7.2 overs.
Then following this, Santner ran through the middle order, removing Afif Hossain (14), Towhid Hridoy (16), Mahedi Hasan (4) and Shamim Hossain (9) one by one, sinking Bangladesh to 81/7 in 14.5 overs.
Bangladesh somehow reached the 100-run mark in 17.3 overs but was bundled out for 110 in 19.2 overs. Santner (4/16) was the pick of the bowlers for NZ. Southee, Sears and Milne took two wickets each.
In the chase of 111 runs, Allen went for big shots from one end, witnessing the wickets fall from the other end. Mahendi got Tim Seifert, Daryl Mitchell, while Shoriful Islam dismissed Glenn Phillips. Mark Chapman was also run out. All these batters could score just one run each. Kiwis were 38/4 in 6.5 overs.
Allen was removed by Shoriful for 38 off 31 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes. Half of the Kiwi line-up was back in the pavilion for 49 runs.
James Neesham and Santner stitched a match-saving partnership. They took NZ on the brink of a win but rain god intervened and NZ got a 17-run win via DLS Method. Neesham scored 28* in 20 balls, with a four and two sixes while Santner made 18* in 20 balls, with a boundary.
Santner was adjudged as the ‘Player of the Match’ for his all-round show. (ANI)