Santner keeps fingerspin flag flying in the land of wristspin

One of the trends in T20 cricket in the last year or so has been the return of fingerspinners. They have worked hard on their variations, on their defensive skills with the ball, on their power-hitting with the bat, and consequently they are relevant again, but conditions in Australia haven't exactly been conducive to their style of bowling. It's still wristspinners ruling the charts at the T20 World Cup. Among spinners who have bowled at least 10 overs in the Super 12s, five of the six most economical have been wristspinners. Nine of the top 11 are either wristspinners or mystery spinners.

At No. 3 on economy rates and No. 2 on wickets sits a fingerspinner with no mystery to him. He flirted with a carrom ball in 2018 but now just operates with the standard variations of a fingerspinner. Mitchell Santner has been key to New Zealand's progress, bowling 16 overs for 103 runs and eight wickets. Seven of his victims have been batters in the top seven. Three of his overs have come inside the powerplay.