There is something anachronistic about left-arm orthodox spin in T20 cricket. It does not snarl. It does not flick from the back of the hand. It does not arrive announced.

Mitchell Santner has made it endure anyway. His left-arm orthodox is built not on disguise but on repeatability, not on spectacle but on calibration. The arm speed rarely changes; the seam often does.

In an exclusive conversation with Cricbuzz during the T20 World Cup 2026, the New Zealand captain speaks about deception without drama, bowling to left-handers in his natural arc, the abandoned "claw", and the delicate tension of captaining while managing his own four overs.

In a T20 landscape obsessed with big hitting and mystery, you have kept the art of left-arm orthodox relevant and, in many ways, made it appealing again. How have you managed that?

Yeah, I guess the challenge these days is the smaller grounds and, like you said, the big hitting. I think there's still a place for finger spin with accuracy. For me, I guess, it's trying to deceive the batsman through flight and changes of pace versus off the wicket.

The key is being able to adapt and see what is going to be the most threatening on a surface. You get a couple of flat wickets in India, it might be playing more of a defensive role, trying to get wickets that way. Then you come to a ground like here in Colombo where there is a bit of spin and you can play more of an attacking role, bowl more of your stock ball for longer, less variations, stuff like that.

So, I think the key, especially if you're able to travel around, is identifying that as quickly as you can, seeing what's going to be the most effective and trying to get in and out of overs like every other bowler.

You have a very repeatable action and rely heavily on pace and angles. Has that simplicity always been central to your bowling, or is it something you arrived at as you matured?

Yeah, I think the longer I've kind of gone through it, you can get stuck into bowling fast all the time as a spinner. When the wicket suits that's good, but if the batsmen get a read on that on flat wickets it can be a hindrance at times.

So I think being brave enough to still change it up, try to deceive the batsmen the best you can. The powerplay probably looks different to what it does in the middle or the death. It's about being able to do everything and adjusting your game to what suits best.