Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has showered praise on Mitchell Santner, stating the left-arm orthodox spinner knows how to bowl on Indian pitches. Santner returned with impressive figures of 1-37 against India at the Himachal Pradesh Association Stadium, Dharamshala on Sunday but his efforts went in vain as the Kiwis suffered a four-wicket loss.

Santner accounted for in-form KL Rahul as he plumbed him in front of the wickets. The left-arm spinner plays for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and has all the experience of bowling in spin-friendly conditions.

In fact, Santner has been at his best in the recent past. Santner is mostly right on the money and he is always attacking the stumps. Furthermore, he has got the right change in pace to flummox the opposition batters.

“In the middle over is where he will be looking to make a difference like Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have been making a difference. Picking wickets in the middle and putting a brake just when a partnership is looking like it’s taking off, they come in and take wickets,” said Gavaskar while talking to Star Sports during mid-innings break.

Gavaskar added that Santner is a clever bowler and knows how to get the best out of the conditions on offer. Santner is currently the highest wicket-taker of the ongoing ODI World Cup with 12 scalps in five matches at an impressive average of 16.92.

“I think if Mitchell Santner can do that and he can get the ball to turn, what we’ve seen is the way he is varying his pace, he stops the odd one so that it comes slowly off the surface. He’s very clever. He’s got the experience of playing in the IPL. He knows how to bowl on Indian pitches,” Gavaskar added.

Moreover, Santner is electric in the field and also affected Suryakumar Yadav’s run-out. However, India was able to get over the line after Virat Kohli scored 95 whereas Jadeja contributed 39*.

New Zealand will next take on Australia at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala on Saturday.