The hope of Kiwis will be on Mitchell Santner shoulder. And going into the three-match ODI series against India starting here on Sunday, the 25-year-old hopes that remain his biggest asset to tie the mighty hosts' battling line-up down. "I just try to keep it pretty simple," Santner said here on Monday. "Try and keep the ball off the Indian batsmen. Bowl the ball reasonably quick on the surface and make the batsmen make a mistake. The plan for Kiwis will be simple as they will get a few dots and build pressure that way, you can hopefully get a few wickets. That's what I'll be trying to do."
In the last ODI series between these two teams played in India, Santner picked up four wickets in 46 overs across five games. More pertinently, though, his average economy rate throughout those five outings was 4.00. Compare this to the two Australian spinners' economy rate in their recently-concluded 1-4 ODI series loss, Adam Zampa 6.98 and Ashton Agar 6.57, and it reflects the different kind of challenge that the Indians will be up against the leader of Kiwis' spin attack. But one thing which can stop Santner is the youth star of the host nation Hardik Pandiya who is good in batting while he faces finger spinner or leg-spinner.
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