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- By Gurmeet Batra
- Sun, 01 Feb 2026 11:30 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs NZ T20Is: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner conceded that Ishan Kishan's explosive century in Thiruvananthapuram had left his team reeling, exposing the Achilles Heel of his side.
Highlighting the challenges posed by India's power-hitters, Santner drew parallels between Kishan's innings and Abhishek Sharma's previous assaults on the Kiwi bowling attack.
“Very good. I think he has put his hand up to be in the first team for the World Cup. I think that shows they got 170 off the last 10, I suppose. When two guys are going like that, it’s tough to stop. Sometimes, when guys are going like that, you have to put your hands up," Santner said.
"We have seen it from Abhishek, we have seen it from Surya. We have now seen it from Ishan. For India, all their batters are scoring runs at different stages, they should be really happy with that,” he added.
Santner voiced confidence in his team's capacity to adapt to the difficult conditions of the subcontinent, noting their experience as a critical factor in their preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
"I guess we've had a few players who played in Chennai recently in the IPL or obviously games throughout our careers. I think the last couple of years have shown that Chennai is a pretty good wicket," said Santner after the fifth T20I against India here on Saturday, which they lost by 46 runs.
"The day game is going to be slightly different. Guys are going to have to reset their clocks, try to get up a little bit earlier. But again, it's a new challenge for us. We go to Ahmedabad for one game on red soil, then we go to Chennai on black soil, so it's going to be slightly different," he added.