New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner revealed how he improved his power-hitting, saying that having more opportunities to bat in the past year allowed him to contribute with valuable hits. In a quick 162-run partnership for the seventh wicket against India, Santner scored his third ODI fifty while assisting a rampaging Michael Bracewell, bringing New Zealand very close to the finish line in Hyderabad. It was abundantly clear from the way he batted in the center nets of the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium here on Friday that his game plan, when batting at number eight, is to hit sixes from the first ball. He attempted to hit the spinners, like the other New Zealand batters, and faced them frequently.
“Being an all-rounder you need to chip in both departments. In the last year or so, getting more opportunities to bat has helped. It can be quite challenging at times if you are at the bottom and you have three or four overs left,” he said ahead of the second ODI.
“The nature of batting at 7 and 8 is that you have to go hard from ball one and hit. You train for your role and that is what I do in the nets and try to hit some sixes. When you have more time to bat like the other night you get into your innings a bit more.
