Santner says New Zealand banking on fielding in decider

Mitchell Santner said fellow New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi has reaped the benefits of bowling a "superb" length in the current T20 series against India.

While leggie Sodhi has only featured in the T20s, Santer has done a decent job throughout the tour.

Sodhi, who returned with figures of two for 25 and one for 25 in the first two games, has made life tough for the Indian batsmen, who have found it difficult to put him away.

"Lengths have been the key thing. Ish bowled a superb length, pulled it back and made it hard for the Indian batsmen to hit. I tried to do something pretty similar. Akshar (Patel) and Yuzvendra Chahal bowled really well in Delhi. I thought they were unlucky in the last game. We have to change our lengths accordingly. We have to wait and see,” said Santner on the eve of the series decider in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.

About his own record against former India captain MS Dhoni, whom he had kept quiet in the last T20 at Rajkot Santner said, "He is a very good player of spin and seam bowling. I guess at the start I try to keep it simple. I try to pull the length up and tuck him up a little bit.  Also, I try to read the batsman as much as possible."

On New Zealand coming up short in crucial matches, like the World Cup final against Australia in 2015 and in the recent ODI series, he said, "We like to treat this is like another game. It is better than being 2-0 down. We are excited about it."

To a question if the Indians were under pressure leading into the decider and if it presented the Kiwis the best chance of winning a series here, Santner said they would play their best but the home side too would want to emerge on top.

"India have played very good cricket for a long time now in your conditions (sic). They are tough to beat. We have taken it to the decider in the last two series. Both teams will want to win (tomorrow).

"They played well in Kanpur under pressure as well (to win the ODI series). We will turn up tomorrow and put up a good performance and try to take the series."

The T20 series has seen a below par fielding performance from both the sides with a few catches going down and Santner said the Kiwis would look to put up a good effort on the field tomorrow.

"Yeah, I mean it. We pride ourselves on our fielding. In the heat of the battle, we don’t want to be dropping catches. A couple of dropped catches have been crucial. We have to put up a good performance in the field," the left-handed all-rounder, who missed a few catches in the Rajkot game said.