Top 5 surprise performances from the India-New Zealand Test series

#3 Mitchell Santner‘s all-round potential

Santner showed glimpses of his potential with both bat and ball

Even though the pitches allied with the spinners, Mitchell Santner came into the series as a rookie without any prior experience of playing in Asia. The left-armer prised out three wickets in the first innings of the opening Test with his stifling lengths to make an instant impact. In the batting department, his fighting 71 in the fourth-innings at Kanpur was among the few positives for the Kiwis.

Since Daniel Vettori’s stellar career came to a grinding halt, they required a gritty customer in the lower order who could come to their rescue during crises aside from delivering one accurate spell after another. With Santner’s emergence, New Zealand have a viable option for slipping into the bespectacled all rounder’s shoes.