"Santner has been unbelievable for us": NZ batter Glenn Phillips

While speaking in the pre-match press conference, New Zealand player Glenn Phillips praised all-rounder Mitchell Santner, saying that he has a knack for taking wickets and he does not leak runs while being wicketless during his bowling spells.

Phillips heaped praise on Mitchell Santner and said that he has been unbelievable for an incredibly long time.

"Yeah, Santner's been unbelievable for an incredibly long time. His skill set is to be able to bowl quickly and slowly from pretty much the exact same action. He has an intuition about batters coming at him. So, he seems to have a knack for picking up wickets, but if he's not picking up wickets, he tends to go for no runs as well," he said.

Santner picked up two wickets in tournament opener against England, controlling an explosive England lineup.

Phillips said that foreign teams will face difficulty in the Indian conditions but players who have shined in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will have an advantage at the ongoing ODI World Cup.

"Yeah, obviously, when 90% of the teams are away teams, It almost levels the playing field quite nicely India has the home advantage and they play incredibly strong cricket at home. But with the other subcontinent teams Pakistan, Sri Lanka Bangladesh, that's still a semi-foreign condition to them so for us to be able to go out there and we try to adapt as quickly as possible on the day and I think that's what we pride ourselves on understanding that you get one shot at each team when it comes down to who can adjust to the conditions on the day seen as that most of us are all actually very foreign to these conditions barring probably guys who have had a lot of success in the IPL over the years," Glenn Phillips said during the pre-match press conference.

When asked about the pitch in Hyderabad, Phillips said that it's always good conditions in Hyderabad and praised the groundsman for doing an incredible job.

"Yeah. Over in Hyderabad, it's always a good pitch out here. The groundsman does an incredible job. He's got a great support staff. And obviously, there's been quite a lot of high-scoring games here over the years. So hopefully, it'll present another entertaining game," Phillips added.

When asked about Kiwi players taking part in IPL, he said it is a little bit of an advantage to give information to the other teammates.

"Yeah, obviously, we've got guys who have played in various IPL teams I myself and Kane playing here obviously brings a little bit of an advantage to giving information to the boys. We try to take all the information and put it together and as I said, come on the day and adapt to the conditions as fast as possible. Obviously, a pitch can play differently one day than it will for another. So, for us to be able to collate that information, understand what we have in our bank, and stick to our strengths and skills on that particular pitch will be very important," he added. Phillips also showered praise on Trent Boult and said that the Kiwi pacer will play a key role in the New Zealand bowling attack with the new ball.

"For us. Obviously, Santner will be a key one, as well as Trent Bolt up the front with the new ball. But I think we've never really been a team that has one person doing all the work or necessarily making an impact throughout the whole competition. So, with us, we've got a real team-first mentality and it comes down to what the team needs at that point in time. And everyone is going to give their all at any point in time," he added.

Phillips added that the Kiwi squad try to collate and work together more as a team as opposed to individuals.

"So, where the guys are called upon to do different roles and to be able to execute those roles is going to be really important for us, but we've got a lot of match winners on our side, but with that being said, we try to collate and work together more as a team as opposed to individuals," he added.

"Who are the good players in India? They've got players coming out of their ears. Obviously, Virat Kohli is an incredible key to India's side, and how every team combats what he's going to throw at us or throw at them will change depending on different grounds and different places, but then you've got guys like Rohit Sharma, Jasmit Bumrah, guys who have just performed on the world stage for years," he added.

Everybody's going to be looking at them and going, how can we restrict them, but also be able to fire punches back at them? And I guess to be able to put them under a lot of pressure. Obviously, they've got the home advantage, which does come with a lot of pressure as well. So, with their side, they've got a lot of experience, a lot of young talent as well. Shubman Gill coming through, he's been absolutely phenomenal. So, I think there's a lot to watch out for," he concluded.

The match between New Zealand and the Netherlands will kick off at 2:30 PM IST. (ANI)