Mitchell Santner's bowling was devastating in the Pune Test. Team India's batsman fell to his knees in front of his spin. He single-handedly sent more than half of the team to the pavilion. Santner bowled lethally in the first innings and took 7 wickets for 53 runs, as a result of which the Indian team was all out for just 156. This gave New Zealand a lead of 103 runs and they have come into a strong position in this match.
Mitchell Santner also achieved the feat of taking the first 5-wicket haul in his Test career. Not only this, he has also become the third bowler in terms of best performance from New Zealand in India. Earlier in 2021, Ajaz Patel took 10 wickets for 119 runs. Whereas in 1976, Richard Hadlee took 7 wickets for 23 runs. Now Santner has taken 7 wickets for 53 runs.
It started with Shubman Gill. The Indian team started the day with the loss of 1 wicket with 16 runs. On the score of 50, Santner gave India the first blow of the second day in the form of Gill. After this, this sequence continued. He then made Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, and Ravindra Jadeja his victims. Then he also took the last 3 wickets of Ashwin, Akashdeep, and Jaspreet Bumrah. In this way, he broke the back of Team India by taking a total of 7 wickets.
After losing the first Test match of the series in Bengaluru, Team India was expected to make a comeback. But the Indian team got caught in its own trap laid in Pune. No Indian batsman could stand against New Zealand's spin bowling. However, after Yashasvi Jaiswal (30 runs) and Shubman Gill (30 runs), Ravindra Jadeja (38 runs) tried a little in the end.
Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar also contributed 18 runs each. But this proved to be enough and India gave away a lead of more than 100 runs. This has increased the problems of captain Rohit Sharma. This is the second time in the last 23 years that Team India has lost a lead of more than 100 runs in two consecutive Test matches. Earlier, this had happened in 2001 against Australia at Wankhede and Eden Gardens.
