Mitchell Santner’s all-round ability huge positive: Kane Williamson

On his first visit to India, Mitchell Santner has made a good impression with his all-round performance and that’s a huge positive for the New Zealand side from the Kanpur Test, captain Kane Williamson said.

Santner played fighting knocks of 32 and 71 (his maiden Test fifty) in Kiwis’ resistance against the dominating Indian spinners and took five wickets, albeit in a losing cause.

“He played outstandingly well. It’s his first time in this part of the world playing Test cricket and it was a great step in the right direction for his game. We all know he has got the talent with bat and ball and in the field, to apply himself like he did and bowl a number of overs and be successful was very good against good players of spin. It was a huge positive for us,” said Williamson.

“He’ll look forward to the next one and I’m sure he’s learned a lot from this experience,” added the young Kiwi captain at the post match press conference after New Zealand lost the first Test of the three-match series by 197 runs.

Williamson also lauded Luke Ronchi for his defiant innings in the prevailing tough conditions. He scored 32 in the first innings and delayed India’s victory march with his 80-run knock during the Kiwi chase.

“There were a lot of positives for us. Guys who hadn’t played here before spent some valuable time in the middle and made some valuable contributions,” he added.