RANCHI: Mitchell Santner says that time spent under Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Stephen Fleming at Chennai Super Kings will come in handy as he leads New Zealand in the T20 series in India.

Santner had also led the side in the third and final T20I in India back in 2021. He is captaining the side in the absence of regular skipper Kane Williamson.

“If you look at both of them [Dhoni and Fleming], they’re both very calm and very level-headed, which I like as I feel I’m similar in that respect. To work under and alongside MS [Dhoni] has been a pretty cool experience for a few years now.

“I guess it’s nice to be back at his home ground as well. And Flem [Fleming] — he’s the same, very level-headed and keeps it pretty relaxed and that’s what we try to do in this set-up as well,” said the left-hander ahead of the series opener.

ODIs take precedence over T20Is in a World Cup year but Santer said playing every game for the country is an honour. “I guess the way ODI cricket is going at the moment, you know it’s not too different to T20. So, banking the experiences in T20 cricket this year will be similar to what we got in the one-day series, where we saw some high scores and good hitting.

“I guess trying to bank those experiences from that series…yes, we obviously lost 3-0, but we showed glimpses in games we want to take forward in this series.”

Would he continue to be calm under pressure now that he is leading the side?

“Yeah, I guess that’s my nature, and it has been like that for a little while now. But obviously there’s also a bit more nerves (now) and it’s very exciting to captain another series in India — it doesn’t get much better than that. So, definitely looking forward to it and it’s going to be a challenge, no doubt,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2023