Santner equals New Zealand’s Champions Trophy record as captain amid match-winning spell in semifinal

Mitchell Santner is slowly fully coming into his own as the New Zealand white-ball captain as he dished out a spin masterclass when it mattered the most, the semi-final of the Champions Trophy against South Africa on Wednesday, March 5 in Lahore. Chasing 362, South Africa succumbed under the weight of scoreboard pressure but still ended up getting 312, all thanks to David Miller’s unbeaten century. But it proved that the wicket was a good one but still Santner showed what he can do even when the surfaces offer very little help.

With his guile and using his height and high-arm action to the fullest, Santner got the most amount of turn of all spinners and broke the back of the Proteas’ chase with key wickets of Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen, two of whom were set. With his figures of 3/43, Santner took his wickets tally to seven and now has a chance to break the Champions Trophy record on Sunday in the final.

Santner now has the joint-most number of wickets as captain in Champions Trophy history – seven – as he equalled Daniel Vettori, former Kiwi skipper’s feat. Legendary South African pacer Shaun Pollock is at the top of the pile with eight wickets to his name as captain in the tournament.

Most wickets in Champions Trophy as captain

8 – Shaun Pollock (South Africa), in 5 innings

7 – Mitchell Santner (New Zealand), in 4 innings

7 – Daniel Vettori (New Zealand), in 4 innings

4 – Hansie Cronje (South Africa), in 3 innings

4 – Steve Tikolo (Kenya), in 3 innings

Santner had South Africa tottering before Miller provided some respectability to South Africa’s total as New Zealand qualified for their third final in the Champions Trophy. New Zealand will go back to Dubai for one final clash and will hope to continue their magnificent run.