‘Pace bowlers to carry NZ’s campaign in T20 WC’
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner on Saturday said he would trust in the variety of his fast bowling unit to keep the opposition batters silent in the Power Play and at the death overs — the phases when the bowlers leak runs generally — during the T20 World Cup. The pace-heavy Kiwi attack consists of Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy besides all-rounder James Neesham.
“I think when you come to India, you don,t see as much lateral movement off the pitch. So, I think swing and bounce is very important. So, Duffy, if he’s got the ball swinging, he’s a challenge for batters. We,ve got all our fast bowlers to give us different options,” Santner said during the pre-match press meet ahead of their match against Afghanistan.
“Lockie’s got more pace and swing. Jamieson can swing at both. Matt Henry can nip it. Duffy can swing it. So, for us, it’s choosing the match-ups that we think are going to be best for us going forward. But Duff, he likes to choose the hard overs,” he added. Santner said the recent five-match T20I series against India has given his side some fine pointers despite losing it 1-4.
“I think, again, we were challenged with the ball, especially at the start. The way (Ishan) Kishan, Shivam (Dube) but obviously Abhishek (Sharma), the way they came out in the power play. So I think that’s going to be a theme throughout this World Cup is teams trying to get off to a flyer in the power play, you,re going to put yourself in a pretty good position.
“So I think on the flip side, it,s how you can take two, three wickets early and really slow teams down. I think Sri Lanka will play slightly differently to India, you know the conditions as well. “So, if you do get a flat one, it’s identifying that with the bat, trying to cash in at the top, and then with the ball, it,s still trying to take wickets as much as you can,” he said.
Santner hoped that openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen would do the big-hitting job for his side in the Power Plays during the tournament. “I think that as we,ve seen kind of throughout the India series and Finn obviously at the Big Bash. I think both of them can obviously hit sixes with ease, but it,s about playing the conditions, playing the opposition, and I think there,s smarts that go with them too as well, which when they back together it,s cool to see.
“Even if it,s — I think you identify match-ups and try to go from there. So I think it will be no different tomorrow. See where the threats are, see what the options they want to take, and just give them the freedom to go out there and bat,” he noted. New Zealand’s captain Mitchel Santner addressing a press conference ahead of an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 cricket match between Afghanistan and New Zealand at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
