Daryl Mitchell, the man for all seasons, is the archetypal New Zealand cricketer

If you were to set eyes on Daryl Mitchell at any stage during a cricket match, chances are that you would, without even knowing his nationality, conclude that he is a New Zealand cricketer.

He is agile, athletic, strongly built, resourceful, and above all, understated. Does what his team asks of him. Does so with minimal fuss, and most importantly, answers his team’s call when they need it most.

In a nutshell, that is what most Kiwi cricketers are like. They often fly under the radar, and at times, they face sides whose sum of parts might be greater than New Zealand’s complement. But the Blackcaps, almost always, make the whole greater than the sum of those parts, and that is largely down to the presence of individuals such as Mitchell.

Mitchell has been around for a while but is what many would classify as a late bloomer. Currently aged 32, he made his international debut in February 2019, just a few months before he turned 28.

A Test debut followed later that year, but it was not until the start of the 2021 T20 World Cup that he truly captured the world’s imagination. That T20 World Cup campaign saw the Kiwis reach the final before stumbling against Australia. Yet, it had all the ingredients you come to expect of a New Zealand World Cup run – barely any fanfare prior to it, but excellently prepared and boasting immense clarity.

That, in fact, is one of the first qualities of Mitchell that truly strikes out – just how calm and composed he looks at the crease, and how he seems to have an answer for almost all that is thrown at him.

Daryl Mitchell scored a superb hundred against India

The greatest illustration perhaps came against India at Dharamsala on Sunday. New Zealand, facing the pre-tournament favorites and the team to beat this World Cup, found themselves tottering at 19-2 when Mitchell walked in.

The pitch was a little two-paced and Rachin Ravindra, who stood at the other end, was having trouble adapting to the conditions. Mitchell, though, came out to bat as if he had been batting on that strip in the nets for hours. There were shimmies down the track, and there were movements across his crease at times, but at all times, there was plenty of clarity around what was his best modus operandi, and what would take his team to some sort of safety.

In the end, he managed much more than that, scoring his fifth ODI hundred – his first in a World Cup and only the second century any Kiwi had managed against India in the men’s ODI World Cup. And at no point did the all-rounder seem flustered. If anything, he seemed to relish the pressure, morphing a perilous position into something more promising.

There were murmurs later, most notably by Simon Doull where he seemed to suggest that Mitchell dawdled towards his milestone (which may not have been entirely unwarranted), but it could also not be denied that New Zealand had something to play with because of their No. 4 batter.

The other endearing aspect about Mitchell is that he seems to come up trumps under pressure, irrespective of the format. His Test displays last summer in England were extraordinary, and in ODI cricket, he has been a force to reckon with in the past couple of years.

Since the start of 2022, no other Black Caps batter has scored more ODI runs than him. Only Kane Williamson, for context, has a better average, although Williamson has played 18 fewer innings.

When Mitchell gets set, he also makes it count, having mustered four centuries since the beginning of last year. Only Devon Conway has as many. Among all international cricketers, only Babar Azam, Dawid Malan, Shai Hope, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli have more.

In Tests, the all-rounder is third on the New Zealand run-scoring charts, only behind Tom Blundell and Conway. In terms of average, he is second-best (minimum 10 innings), with Williamson the only batter ahead of him. No one, though, has scored more tons than him during this period.

If given an opportunity, he is a very handy bowler too and can get the ball to deck off the surface. In white-ball cricket, he has not bowled as often in recent times, but he does present his side with an option. And in the field, he is exceptional, capable of fielding in the ring, as well as on the fence. A proper three-dimensional cricketer.

Mitchell is New Zealand’s man for all seasons (and formats) – a fact driven home by how he flourished as an opener at the 2021 T20 World Cup, before reverting to a more natural middle-order role in 2022. It is also emphasized by how he has been entrusted to fill the Williamson void in this Kiwi World Cup team.

Williamson has played only once at the World Cup, owing to injuries. He did get a half-century on that occasion, but it was Mitchell who truly took the game away from Bangladesh on a tricky track in Chennai.

The headlines, and the news, understandably, were around Williamson getting past fifty on his return from injury but Mitchell was there, every step of the way. You may not have noticed him. But he was there. He always is.

And that, in many ways, makes Mitchell the archetypal New Zealand cricketer. Agile, athletic, resourceful, understated, and perhaps even a shade underrated. He and New Zealand do not seem to care, though. They know his worth, and he knows what he is really capable of.

That invariably comes to the fore when New Zealand are in trouble. It will not make headlines. But it does help them win games of cricket. Dharamsala did not quite go to plan, at least in that sense. More often than not, though, it does.