New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner stated on Saturday that it is unthinkable that a bowler of Jasprit Bumrah’s caliber will not be discussed strategically prior to the T20 World Cup final against India. However, he cautioned that concentrating solely on Bumrah would be a mistake.
In the ongoing T20 World Cup, Bumrah has been at the top of his game. His death-overs bowling against a rampaging England in the semi-final has already become legendary.
“Bumrah, yeah, I think he should be in everyone’s conversation, the way he has been going. Against England, he looked pretty hard to hit. And he was obviously the game changer for India the other night,” when asked what discussions the think tank is having regarding Bumrah, Santner responded, according to PTI.
Santner, however, issued a warning, stating that it would be unwise to concentrate solely on Bumrah because a number of Indian players had risen up at various points throughout the campaign.
“We knew that was always going to be the case. He’s obviously a world class bowler. But, you know, not just him, everyone has stepped up at different times. And as a team, that’s where you want to be,” the Black Caps skipper said.
By his own standards, Varun Chakravarthy’s tournament has been lackluster, but Santner thinks the Tamil Nadu bowler might rekindle his mystery in the championship match.
If Chakravarthy is not in his element, will there be a psychological advantage? “No, I don’t think so,” Santner firmly refuted the presumption.
“We have all seen how good he is. And I think the challenge for any bowler is when the pitch is flat compared to how it looks when it is spinning or seaming. But when it is flat, I think everyone can go for 60 on such a day. I think he’s got to know that he is still a very good bowler. You should know that you are only one game away from changing the tide.”
Santner assumed the pitch for the final would be flat and good scoring even though he hadn’t seen it, before talking to the media.
“Yeah, I mean, I haven’t had a look at the wicket yet. It is still under cover. But one can only assume it’s going to be pretty flat and high scoring,” the skipper said.
India smashed 253/7 against England on a Wankhede shirtfront, but Santner stated that New Zealand would try to hold them to 220 in order to stay in the contest.
“And at the end of the day, if it’s going to be flat, like it was the other night, trying to restrict India to 220 instead of 250, it might give us a good chance,” the skipper said.
