On this day, February 5: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner was born. One of the finest left-arm spinners and a handy batter, Mitch Santner has slowly made a name for himself among the legends of New Zealand players. Currently he is the captain of New Zealand in ODIs and T20Is and is set to lead them in the upcoming 2026 WT20. Santner initially made his mark for Kiwis in the 2016 WT20 where he picked up ten wickets at an average of 11 including figures of 4 for 11 against the hosts in the tournament opener. He took nine in five World Cup games in 2022 in Australia, where New Zealand reached the semis. Santner has played 127 T20I matches and picked up 135 wickets and is one of the best spinner currently in world cricket. He has also scored 953 runs with the bat lower down the order.
Santner then became a part of the Test side too amidst being in and out of the side. One of his memorable moments was ending Pakistan’s heroic resistance in Mount Maunganui in December 2020 where he took the final wicket. He also took six wickets in a narrow win in Mirpur three years later. Santner’s bowling was also instrumental in New Zealand sealing a historic first series win in India. He played only one Test in the series and took 13 for 157 as New Zealand whitewashed India. Santner has picked up 78 wickets in 32 Test matches across his career.
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Santner has done well in the ODI format too and in the 2023 World Cup, Santner became only the second New Zealand spinner after Vettori to get to 100 ODI wickets. He currently has 133 wickets in 124 ODI matches at an average of 35. He is their captain now and will be adding more to his tally in the coming years.
Mitchell Santner has also been part of the two champion sides in CSK and MI but until recently he was not a regular member of the side. This is one of the reasons why despite playing IPL for so many years he has played just 32 IPL games picking up 25 wickets.
