3 min learnFeb 4, 2026 05:13 PM IST
Though New Zealand misplaced their recently-concluded five-match T20I collection towards India 4-1 as a build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup marketing campaign, former Indian pacer Varun Aaron feels Mitchell Santner’s aspect may nonetheless pose a major menace to India within the multinational showpiece occasion. Aaron credited New Zealand batters’ skill towards spin and their huge expertise of enjoying in Indian situations by the IPL.
“They’re an enormous problem for India as a result of they’ve plenty of gamers of their ranks who can play spin very well,” Aaron stated whereas talking to Star Sports activities.
“Everyone knows that once you come to the subcontinent, your batters have to have the ability to negotiate spin nicely, they usually even have plenty of expertise enjoying within the IPL. The likes of Daryl Mitchell, any individual who’s in prime type, goes to be key on this New Zealand setup.
“The factor with New Zealand is that they’ve this never-give-up perspective. They’ll come from behind and win video games. New Zealand is a staff which has by no means had huge superstars once you evaluate them to the likes of Australia and India, however one way or the other all of them chip in, and most significantly, on the sphere, they save plenty of runs,” he added.
New Zealand are positioned in Group B, which is taken into account tough because it consists of South Africa, Afghanistan, the UAE, and Canada.
Aaron stated the Kiwis possess probably the most well-rounded bowling assaults, which is able to swimsuit the situations.
“New Zealand have probably the most well-rounded bowling assaults, whether or not it involves spin or tempo, as a result of plenty of their gamers have intensive IPL expertise. When you might have IPL expertise, you understand how situations are going to play out. You understand every venue very well, particularly somebody like Mitchell Santner, who’s going to be key for them, notably when the wickets get slower in the direction of the backend,” he stated
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“They’ve Afghanistan and South Africa, two very potent groups, particularly Afghanistan. Afghanistan, for me, are the darkish horses, particularly within the group phases. They’ll knock out any staff on a given day. So New Zealand are actually going to should be at their finest in the event that they need to qualify for the subsequent stage,” added Aaron.