5 Best ODI bowling performances of 2019

#3 Mitchell Santner (2/34 vs India, Manchester)

Mitchell Santner played a key role in his team's win over India in the World Cup semi-final

For quite some time, it has been clear that Indian batsmen of today are not as good as those from earlier generations in playing spin. This was again proven by Mitchell Santner in the World Cup semi-final.

Yes, the left-arm spinner came for bowling when the Indian top-order had already been taken out. Yet, there were two very dangerous batsmen in Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant at the crease. Santner, who is not a big spinner of the ball, bowled a near-perfect line and length to both the big hitters and completely choked out their scoring.

The result was a desperate shot from Pant which got him out. The Kiwi tweaker then picked up the scalp of Pandya as well to put India nearly out of the game. His performance in this match was a classic display of finger spin bowling in limited-overs cricket.

While the more skillful bowlers may try to use flight and guile to deceive the batsmen, it was Santner’s uncompromising line and length that proved to be nearly impossible to put away for Indian batsmen.

By bowling 10 tight overs in the middle of the innings, Santner helped push up the required run-rate so high, even big hits later in the innings couldn’t help India cross the line. This was simply a terrific performance.