Christchurch: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said his side could easily have been 2-0 up in the five-match T20I series had they held their catches, after India pulled off a dramatic late heist to win the second game at Hagley Oval here on Saturday.
Santner, who returned impressive figures of 4-21, said the margins between the two sides had been razor-thin across both games, with dropped catches and misfields proving decisive.
"It's a tough catching ground, and the wind kind of swells a little bit. I think if you look at the skills of both teams, it's been very close, and it's come down to some small moments in the field, especially us kind of at the back end of that chase tonight. I think we're in a very good position.
“A couple of drop catches, misfields, and it's that difference between winning and losing in the game. So I think it, from a skills perspective, has been playing some very good cricket; it's just some small moments where if you seize those moments, we could have easily been, I guess, 2-0 up as what India are again," Santner said in the post-match press conference.
The left-arm spinner felt 180 was a competitive total on a surface that behaved differently from the one dished out for the series opener. "I think it was a little bit different. I think there was a bit more tennis ball bounce. I think probably 180 was still a pretty good score.
“But we knew we had to take wickets at the start, and we managed to do that and squeeze through the middle, which was nice. I think we obviously lost the game due to a couple of good partnerships by India in the end." IANS
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