Colombo: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner hailed his side’s recovery and disciplined bowling after a 61-run victory over Sri Lanka kept their Men’s T20 World Cup semi-final hopes alive, noting that a score upwards of 160 was not bad after the visitors bowlers squeezed them at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Santner and Cole McConchie steadied the innings through a record 84-run stand to take New Zealand to 168/7, after being reduced to 84/6. The spinners, led by Rachin Ravindra’s 4-27, dismantled Sri Lanka’s chase and keep them to 107/8 to get a resounding victory.
“It was obviously a nice score there despite the amount of spin with the ball. They squeezed us a lot. I think we lost six wickets on 84, which is never ideal, but I think the longer we could stay in, me and Cole were thinking, we’ll try to get to 140, but that kind of sets it up for the last two or three overs and I guess 160 was not bad from there,” said Santner in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Reflecting on his own knock, Santner said, “I was really happy with it. It’s kind of one of those wickets where if you get in and give yourself a little bit of time, you can kind of cash in and I guess me and Cole were thinking the same. It was obviously pretty tough to stay out there. So to get 160 was nice and then with the ball, we kind of knew what we had to do with I guess watching the whole first innings.”
He praised McConchie’s composure. “It probably spun more than we both thought, both teams thought. So I think with those, with the big side as the spinner, you can kind of control your lengths and then you get hit to the big side with the ball spinning in like that.
“So, it’s fantastic for Cole. Like I said, a bit of a nervy start with me and him at the crease there. Three off 10 each probably. But then, you know, it was just the longer we could take it, then we kind of took it quite deep, which was nice.”
On Ravindra’s spell, Santner said: “I guess we’ve watched a few games here, whether it’s been Super 8 or the other games before. It’s kind of been the side you bowl a lot more kind of spins. I guess I don’t need a second invitation of old my slow, so it was quite nice. But I think on the scene, he was quite nice, quite effective.” IANS
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