Mitchell Santner recently talked about his experience of playing in IPL, while talking to ESPN Cricinfo. He was picked by Chennai Super Kings in 2018 but couldn’t play the entire season as he was injured in the middle of the tournament.
He played in the 2019 edition of IPL and has huge respect for the standard of cricket which is played in the cash-rich league.
“Yeah, the IPL, I guess, is the pinnacle of all T20 tournaments and I was pretty excited when I was picked up in 2018. There are some world-class spinners in Chennai to talk to and play with – guys like Harbhajan Singh, who I’ve watched a lot of, Ravindra Jadeja and Imran Tahir as well,” ESPNCricinfo quoted Santner as saying.
“When I got injured the first year, I was pretty disappointed, but I was given the opportunity last time around to go and experience it. It’s an unbelievable tournament and definitely the best cricket going around in terms of T20 leagues,” he added.
The Kiwi spinner enjoyed a lot playing under the leadership of MS Dhoni and hailed former Indian skipper for his outstanding leadership ability.
“I’ve played against Dhoni a lot, so to share a dressing room with him and talk to him about how he goes about things was awesome. Even guys like Suresh Raina – you watched him from other teams you go with,” Santner said.
“The IPL last year was a cool experience as well. It was the first time for me playing at a ground where it spins more, in Chennai, which is nice because you don’t have to do too much. You try and fire it into the wicket and let the wicket do the rest. I guess, for me, it’s about trying to adapt to the conditions as early as possible and find what will be the most attacking ball on each surface,” he added.
The IPL 2020 was scheduled to start from March 29th but has been temporarily suspended due to coronavirus pandemic. As per the reports, IPL will go ahead in October- November window in case the T20 World Cup gets postponed this year.
Santner has played 22 Tests, 72 ODIs, and 44 T20Is for New Zealand. He has taken 162 wickets across all formats. He was last seen in action against Australia in March 2020.
