Nothing-to-lose mentality almost won us, says Santner on Bracewell

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New Delhi | New Zealand spin all-rounder Mitchell Santner believes that nothing-to-lose mentality is what inspired him and Michael Bracewell to give the Indian team a bad scare in the first ODI of the series in Hyderabad. Opener Shubman Gill smashed 208 off 149 balls with 19 fours and nine sixes to score the youngest double century in men’s ODI cricket and set New Zealand a target of 350.

The visitors were in trouble at 131/6, and from there Santner and Bracewell batted brilliantly. A massive 162-run partnership for the seventh wicket off only 102 balls. But in the end, both were dismissed at the end of the chase, leaving New Zealand all out for 337, losing the three-match series by 12 runs and trailing 1-0.

It was New Zealand’s mindset that we have nothing to lose here,’ Santner said on the Sen Breakfast Show. Bracewell and I were just looking to play our shots and I was quite happy because Bracewell was hitting boundaries all around the ground.”

Bracewell smashed 140 off 78 balls with 12 fours and 10 sixes while Santner scored 57 off 45 balls. “But the closer we got, the closer we got. Now they were under pressure.”

New Zealand entered the ODI series against India on the back of a 2-1 victory in the 50-over series in Pakistan earlier this month. Santner pointed out that the change of individual conditions and a bigger environment was a challenge for his New Zealand teammates.

“It was obviously a change. Those kind of low, slow wickets in Pakistan, I wish they had (the same) here, but it was quite flat and had good pace and good bounce,” he said.(IANS)

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