Mitchell Santner's one great day

Mitchell Santner made his professional debut before the first Avengers film was released. His career is from an era before TikTok and when Elon Musk was on the left side of politics. It was so far back that you won't even remember the start of his career, or the fact that he was a red-ball bowler when he began.

He debuted in 2011 as a first-class player, and he didn't play any white-ball cricket until 2014. In his debut limited-overs game, he didn't actually even bowl. But that quickly became the form of the game that we talk about when it comes to him. We call him New Zealand Mitch Santner, but he might also be CSK's Mitch Santner, right?

After a while, they didn't seem to need him at all in red-ball cricket. He probably only played this Test because Michael Bracewell went home for the birth of his child. For him to just get a game, it needs to be a ragging pitch overseas when the other spinner is unavailable.

Yet this white ball bowler, almost given up on by his own country, has just outbowled India's spinners. Mitch Santner has not had a great Test career. But he certainly just had a great day.

Santner has not bowled much in first-class cricket. I thought of other 32-year-old professional spinners around the world that we could have a look at, and we found many.

Keshav Maharaj is only a couple of years older, but they both grew up in places where spin is salad. Yet, look at the amount of deliveries that Maharaj has bowled in first-class cricket compared to Santner. He is better at red-ball cricket and has also played county cricket, but he has still clocked a lot of overs.

Santner has not bowled a lot. The other bowlers here didn't have the advantage of being useful lower-order batters. But they have bowled a lot with the red ball in their career and are used to it. For a 32-year-old spinner, 10,000 balls are just not a lot.

Santner is not a better spinner in first-class cricket than the rest of this group. But he has played quite a few Tests and has been involved in first-class cricket for a long time. He has played home and away and has just not taken wickets when he has had a red ball in his hand.

When Santner has played in Test matches, he has held his own compared to other spinners. He has not been good or anywhere near great, but he's actually bowled okay.

However, when Santner has bowled in Asia, he has been completely and thoroughly outbowled by every other spinner. In other places, his numbers hold up.

The problem with Mitch Santner's career so far has been the fact that he hasn't taken many first-class wickets. He has played on a lot of pitches in New Zealand where he has bowled okay, but hasn't had the kind of impact a great bowler would.

But when you go game by game in Asia specifically, he has been outbowled almost every time.

When you're a spinner, you can be as good as you want in New Zealand—you can be nagging, you can keep the economy down, you can outbowl the other spinner in the game—but no one cares, because you don't bowl enough and you're never remembered. You are remembered for how you perform when you go to Asia.

And Mitch Santner, even for someone with a bad first-class record, has not done well in those conditions. But this Test match is in Asia, right?