Santner: 'Plan against Dhoni clicked in Rajkot'

Mitchell Santner's spell, in which he castled India captain Virat Kohli, in Rajkot helped New Zealand square the series. He hopes for his team to win the series on Tuesday.

Mitchell Santner picked up the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli in the Rajkot T20I.

Mitchell Santner has thrown up constant roadblocks for the Indian batsmen on this tour. His impressive bowling in the middle overs has been one of the factors for the Kiwi revival and the bowler is excited that his side has managed to keep the series alive with the win in Rajkot.

"India played very good cricket for a long time in their home conditions. They are tough to beat in India. But we have done well to take the two series to the decider. Obviously both teams will be under pressure and it will boil down to form on the particular day. India played well in Kanpur. We will be hoping to turn up tomorrow and give our best performance to win the series," he said.

The left-arm bowler struck a good partnership with leg spinner Ish Sodhi and duo strangulated the Indian batsmen in the middle overs at Rajkot. Giving credit to Ish for his excellent bowling, Santner said the plan was to bowl full to deny Indian batsmen the opportunity to hit them out of the ground. Santner’s high point was his duel with Dhoni whom he managed to keep quiet. Santner said his plan against Dhoni clicked.

Bhuvneshwar: 'Can't blame lack of fifth bowler for defeat'

Indian speedster Bhuvneshwar Kumar said New Zealand was a quality side and has played well as a unit on this tour. "If you look at statistics, it is not just Colin Munro, who has troubled us the most. They have quality batsmen like Guptill and Kane Williamson. They have played well as an unit," he said.

The speedster was hopeful that India can bounce back and win the decider. He said the virgin pitch and new venue doesn’t really worry the team either. "We will have a look at the pitch and devise our strategies. Obviously playing at home is an advantage," he said.

Bhuvneshwar also refused that the lack of a fifth bowler was hurting India. "We have played good cricket this season and never felt the absence of a fifth bowler. Hardik has done the job often. You can’t put down the defeats to the absence of a fifth bowler. Many teams in the world don’t have one. As I said before, a three match series is too short and when a team loses the first match, the pressure will be on it to do well in the remaining matches," he said.

Bhuvneshwar said he was happy with the way he was bowling and credited Sanjay Bangar for his improvement in batting.