Spinners mitchell santner

Spinners Mitchell Santner: Spinners Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips picked six wickets between themselves to wreck the star-studded Indian batting line-up and reduce the hosts’ to 107/7 in 38 overs at lunch on day two of second Test against New Zealand at the MCA Stadium on Friday.

Resuming from 16/1, India were primed to bat all day in order to maintain their upper hand over New Zealand. But a combination of Santner being stunning by varying his pace, flight and dip by bowling 14 overs on the trot from the commentary box end, along with rash shot selection and lack of gumption from the batters has resulted in India being in serious trouble.

They still trail New Zealand by 152 runs, after losing six wickets for 91 runs in the first session, and will depend a lot on Ravindra Jadeja (11 not out) and Washington Sundar (two not out) to bail them out of trouble.