Beating India a `confidence booster` for Kiwis, says Santner

Nagpur: New Zealand hero Mitchell Santner has admitted that the stunning win over hosts India in the opening group match of the World Twenty20 has boosted his side’s confidence but said that they need to quickly focus on their next match against Australia on Friday.

Santner played the role of India’s tormentor-in-chief with nearly flawless performance as he produced career-best T20 figures of 4-11 to beat the tournament favourites by 47 runs in their opening group match at Nagpur’s VCA Stadium on Tuesday.

“Every time you beat India at home is a tough effort and we managed to do that today,” Santner said.

“It’s a bit of a confidence booster. There are a lot of positives to take out of this game but there’s also a couple of work-ons.

“We’ll just take it game by game. We have got a tough pool. We’re just trying to move on now and focus for the next game,” the 24-year-old added.

This was New Zealand’s fifth victory over India in their six T20 internationals, while the other match was rained off.

Chasing a modest target of 126, Indian batsmen failed collectively as a unit against New Zealand’s spinners and were bundled out for just 79 runs in 18.1 overs, their lowest ever T20 score on home soil. (ANI)