“Conditions, I guess, for the majority,” Mitchell Santner says flippantly. As if by instinct, he deflects individual praise, happy to lump it back onto the collective unit. The interview has begun with a response that is stereotypically characteristic of New Zealand cricket.
And yet, plainly, there’s more to Santner’s increased value to this New Zealand side than that. His 13 wickets in that famous win over India in Pune were assisted by conditions, but his Test average has ticked downwards over the last couple of years. He followed up that performance with seven wickets in a Player-of-the-Match showing in a crushing win against England in Hamilton, worlds removed from Pune in more ways than one. His Test bowling average over the last two years is under 20 against a career average that hovers in the mid-30s.
His improvement extends across formats. Santner’s ODI average and economy rate are better in 2025 than in any other year since 2017 when he’s played more than three games, while his last three years of T20 cricket have produced steadily improving economy and strike rates. Earlier in his career, he used to fit into the New Zealand side because he offered an easy way to balance it, but now he has transformed into the sort of player New Zealand build their side around. That increased value is now official; late last year, he was appointed captain of the white-ball side with a view to lead at least the next three ICC events leading up to the 2027 World Cup, with the ongoing Champions Trophy his first major test.
He clearly relishes the captaincy, but does not think it places him on a higher pedestal; since the appointment of Brendon McCullum over a decade ago, armband transitions have been seamless enough to render every new appointment a continuity candidate.
“It’s been a different challenge,” Santner tells ESPNcricinfo. “It’s an honour to play for your country, but also being captain is another level. In terms of the way [Kane Williamson and I] want to approach the game, it’s very similar. Kane’s philosophy started from Baz and went through Kane and everyone in between. It makes it easier that he’s got a wealth of knowledge and he’s done it for a long time. He’s nice to have here and get some ideas off.”
We speak the day before the final of the tri-series in Pakistan, and on the day itself, his entire repertoire is on dazzling display. He comes on to bowl in the 16th over and strangles Pakistan right through the middle, conceding just 15 in his first eight overs. However, in a sign of his versatility, he holds himself back until the 45th over, returning when left-handers Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah and Shaheen Afridi come in to bat. All three prefer the cow-corner slog, theoretically precisely in the arc Santner bowls into.
“It takes a little bit [of courage] to toss the ball up,” he says. “Especially when I first started, I was more flat and into the wicket. But playing a lot of games in New Zealand and places that don’t spin a lot, changes of pace and variety have to come into play. I think that’s what I’ve based my bowling off around, that mixing of pace. When it is spinning quickly, you can just roll into the wickets the majority of the balls. But when it is slow and not doing a hell of a lot, that’s when the change of pace comes in. That’s my way of trying to be aggressive as well and take wickets. To potentially have fielders up and bowl slightly slower at times. “
In the tri-series final, things work out uncannily similar to the way Santner manifests them. He tosses the ball up higher and wider, drawing them into the slog while staying out of their hitting arc. By the end of the ninth over, he’s snared Kushdil and Faheem; his last two concede just five runs. At 10-1-20-2, it is the most economical bowling spell of his career, and the second-most miserly in Full Member ODIs in 2025.
It’s not a one-off, either. Despite bowling in the middle when the opposition tries to milk spinners, and towards the start of the third powerplay (that is, the start of death overs), only four players have bowled more dot deliveries this Champions Trophy than his 91. In the early stages of the third powerplay, his parsimony is close to world-leading; only Kuldeep Yadav, Rashid Khan and Maheesh Theekshana can boast a superior economy rate than the New Zealand captain between the 41st and 46th over since the start of the 2023 World Cup.
“It can be quite challenging at times for bowlers to think about bowling slow,” he says. “Playing a lot of cricket in New Zealand on smaller grounds and slightly different dimensions, you have to mix it up a little bit. In New Zealand we have a variety of grounds where it might be short, straight, a bigger square. So that kind of slow, wider one comes into play a bit more and if it’s long straight, short square, you tend to bowl a bit slower and full. It’s about adapting and adjusting to what the pitch and the conditions are.”
Santner and a side which already looks like it’s moulded in his image are adjusting well. In the first game of the tri-series, in Lahore, where Santner says there was less grass and the wicket was slower, New Zealand batted first, putting up a par total and strangling Pakistan with spin through the middle. Santner was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 41. On a flatter, faster wicket, they gunned down a large chase against South Africa. Their fourth game in the Champions Trophy – the semi-final against South Africa, will take place in Lahore, meaning New Zealand will have played at four different venues in the tournament; adaptability is a non-negotiable.
“It [the changing venues] was part of the thinking when we picked our squad. The conditions could be slightly different. You know what you’re going to get in Pakistan. But I think our squad, we kind of cover that.”
They cover it quite well indeed. Across all three Champions Trophy venues in Pakistan, New Zealand have won their last five ODIs, stretching back to that tri-series. And they have done so in diverse ways, chasing three times and defending twice. It puts them in the relatively serene position of not stressing about the toss; Santner said he did not find the dew in Lahore to be overbearing, and in the one game New Zealand bowled under the lights there, the spinners sent down 26 overs without the moisture hampering them.
When Santner made his debut three months after Daniel Vettori retired, he looked something of a Vettori regen: the wavy auburn hair, the spectacles, and left-arm offspin, the lower-order batting ability. Santner cites Vettori as “someone he looked up to”, and his influence on Santner’s game is often unmistakeable.
“I keep in contact with him and he’s helped me a lot with my bowling in the last ten years. The way he was able to change his pace, I tried to do something similar with my action. That lack of front arm, like everyone likes to put it. I do watch the batter for a little bit longer. Having that kind of delay and then being able to change is what’s helped me out a lot, especially in white-ball and T20 if guys want to charge. He [Vettori] did it for a very long time in New Zealand on pitches that didn’t offer a lot and did a great job.”
In the present, though, Santner’s New Zealand find themselves in a familiar position. They are in another semi-final; no side has reached more ICC knockout stages than this one since 2015. Yet, aside from coming within a hair’s breadth of the 2019 World Cup title, New Zealand have not come close to getting their hands on white-ball silverware. Santner was not part of the side that won the final of the 2021 World Test championship.
He takes a few moments before answering any question, but this one, as he contemplates the value of consistency against glory, generates the longest contemplative pause. “It’s all about trying to drive this team forward towards a common goal. I think we play our best when we do it for each other. We operate how we want to operate and with everyone giving to a cause in the field. We’ve been close a few times and we have another opportunity here in this major event to see what we can do.”
So far, Santner remains true to brand. But then, he fills the pause he’s left. “A trophy would be nice. That might be beyond this tournament. But,” he closes, his voice inflecting as hope fills it, “it might be this tournament.”