• Home
  • Who Said What
  • More Of A Shock Mitchell Santner Bewildered With Virat Kohlis Unprecedented Dismissal

'More Of A Shock' - Santner Bewildered With Virat Kohli's Unprecedented Dismissal

Akshita Patel

Virat Kohli dropped to his knees after unfortunate dismissal (source: PTI)Virat Kohli dropped to his knees after unfortunate dismissal (source: PTI)

Story continues below ADVERTISEMENT

New Zealand leg-spinner Mitchell Santner wreaked havoc at the MCA stadium in Pune when he dismantled the dominant Indian batting lineup with a seven-wicket haul on Day 2 of the second Test. While he cherished every dismissal, Virat Kohli's loose shot left him perplexed as his ball was more or less ordinary.

Team India learnt nothing from their first Test defeat against New Zealand in Bengaluru as they once again dug their own grave with poor shot selection in second Test. After bowling out the Kiwis to 259, India were aiming for a 300+ total but the visitors had other plans.

Mitchell Santner proved to be a dark horse as he tangled Indian batters in his spin web. He picked up as many as seven wickets, including the dismissals of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Sarfaraz Khan. 

Mitchell Santner recalls plan behind Kohli's wicket

Virat Kohli, for that matter, had an absolute brain-fade moment that left the entire nation in shock. He went to play across the line on a full toss by Santner and missed it terribly to get bowled. Kohli knew it was a criminal shot and was livid with himself on the way back to the dressing room.

Meanwhile, Santner was also perplexed with Virat Kohli's shot selection. According to RevSportz, the Kiwi spinner revealed that his ball was an ordinary slower delivery, and perhaps the change of pace did the trick. However, he certainly didn't expect Kohli to go across the line and get bowled in such fashion. So, for Santner and New Zealand, that dismissal was indeed a bonus that triggered a collapse.

"It was more of a shock to get Virat Kohli out like that today," he said.

India were eventually bundled for 156/10, allowing the Kiwis a 103-run lead that is now raised to 301 after Tom Latham's 86 off 133 in the third innings.

Santner joins Kiwi greats after 7-fer in Pune

Mitchell Santner overpowered India to register his career-best figure of 7/53 in the second innings of the Pune Test. After getting the first breakthrough of Day 2 by dismissing Gill, the spinner bamboozled Virat Kohli and Sarfaraz Khan to destroy the host's momentum.

Interestingly, his 7/53 ranks third in the list of best bowling figures registered by a New Zealand bowler in India in Test format. The acclaimed list is led by Ajaz Patel, who fetched 10 wickets in an inning back in 2021 in Mumbai.