Mitchell Santner's sorcery turned out to be too good for Team India on the second day of the ongoing Pune Test as he ran through their batting order and claimed the maiden five-wicket haul of his Test career.
Santner, 32, snared seven scalps while giving away just 53 runs in 19.3 overs. The slow left-arm orthodox bowler was in his elements and proved extremely hard to negotiate for the Indian batters.
Santner's brilliant bowling spell helped him break Tom Hartley's special record against India. The Kiwi has now registered the best bowling figures against India in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle.
The record previously belonged to England's Hartley who had claimed 7/62 against Team India in Hyderabad in January this year. Hartley's stunning spell had helped the Three Lions beat India in that red-ball contest.
Meanwhile, Santner's spell has put the visitors in a position of strength in the Test match. The Blackcaps have accumulated a lead of 103 runs over the hosts after the culmination of the first innings and are just 10 wickets away from rewriting history.
Notably, India have not lost a Test series at home since their 2-1 loss at the hands of the Three Lions in 2012. MS Dhoni was the last India captain to lose a Test series at home.
India Playing XI:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah
Bench:
Axar Patel, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Support Staff:
Gautam Gambhir, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, T Dilip, Morne Morkel
New Zealand's Playing XI:
Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke
Bench:
Kane Williamson, Ish Sodhi, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry
Support Staff:
Gary Stead, Luke Ronchi, Shane Jurgensen
