Mitchell Santner, New Zealand's conventional left-arm spinner who has played 15 Tests, 39 ODIs and 14 Twenty20 internationals and taken 95 wickets, said that finger spinners can pose threats by way of line, length and control. "As a finger spinner, you don’t turn it as much as a wrist-spinner. Our main threat is control. If we can control one end, tie up an end, then hope for a big shot and get a wicket that way.
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"It depends on the surface too; if it is spinning, as a finger spinner, you have to bowl quite accurate (lines). India have very good wrist-spinners who spin (the ball) both ways. They’re big weapons for the team. We have Todd Astle as well, who’s a wrist-spinner.
"If he gets a game, hopefully, he can extract a bit. But my job is to tie up an end and depending on the situation, attack or defend. My job is to do what the captain says.’’
Excerpts:
On playing in India: I always enjoy coming over here. It always tends to spin here more which is a good thing for me. But the Indians are very good players of spin, and we have to work really hard; hopefully get a little bit of turn out there, try and get a few dots in the over and try and be happy, with maybe four an over.
Bowling to Kohli: Not easy. He’s a very good player, and so is a lot of their team. They’re in good form - the way they played against Australia was very good. The last time we came here, we did ok. Hopefully, we can do one better this time and take the series.
Learning from Vettori: I have. He’s a very good left-arm spinner. The more I got out of him was tactical; I guess the way to bowl, not trying to bowl miracle balls every ball. It’s about tying up batsmen and waiting for them to make mistakes, especially on wickets that offer a little bit. I watched a lot of Axar Patel and (Ravindra) Jadeja. They just try to bowl very consistent (lines), in good areas and wait for the batsmen to hit a big shot and get out. I have taken a little bit of footage from there.
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