In a format built on speed and spectacle, left-arm orthodox spin almost feels like a throwback. No drama. No frills. 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.

Early in your career, you experimented with a delivery you called the "claw", which would seam away from the left-hander. Is it still in your repertoire, and if not, why the move back to basics?

Yeah, I think recently I haven't [bowled the "claw" variation"]. I used to bowl early in the Powerplay with the newer ball and kind of do what Akeal [Hosein] does at the moment, swing it and then obviously with the spin as well.

I think the more we've gone through with this team, me as a banker might be more at the back end of the Powerplay where the ball's a bit older, so you're not getting as much swing with the arm ball. Then obviously more into the death stuff where you're definitely not getting any swing there.

But yeah, I think being able to still bring a few variations is key. I think every bowler is like that. We're seeing [Gudakesh] Motie at the moment bowling some legspinners as a left-armer, so when you do get a match-up that's left-hander or not as favourable, you can still add a bit of variation. The mystery spinners do that very well, but I think being a finger spinner, accuracy is very important as well.

Left-arm orthodox has traditionally been seen as a simple art but in T20s, though, batters can line you up. We've seen some left-arm spinners add carrom balls, bouncers or trying to deceive the batter by bowling from well behind the crease. In that environment, how difficult is it to get carried away by all that and not be tempted to develop a new ball, which again risks compromising on what you have been doing really well...

Yeah, it's not easy I guess. On slightly slower wickets where a carrom ball might turn a little bit, it's obviously a great option. In New Zealand, if you're not getting any spin from your offspinner, you're probably not getting any spin from your carrom ball [laughs]. Then it might be more the angles and where you are on the crease and stuff like that.

I've still got the carrom [ball] in the arsenal, it's just when to use it. We've Krunal [Pandya], these guys bowl a long ball for change of pace. We've seen Rashid Khan do that a bit more recently as well. For me, I can change my pace from the crease anyway, but batsmen see something slightly different and they're a little bit unsure, so I think that kind of mystery is important as well.

Your bowling is simple. A large part of it is change of pace. How difficult is it to bowl at, say, 79kph or even over 100kph with barely any visible change in action, especially the arm speed?

I think that's the most important thing, the arm speed. If you're trying to get a young bowler to do it, it's probably a bit of trial and error to see what works for them best, whether it's shortening your delivery stride or changing your wrist.

The wrist angle is probably an easy one where a square seam traditionally comes out a little bit faster than kind of over the top. That will give you a little bit of change of pace. Without making it too obvious is obviously massive. I think [Daniel] Vettori was one of the best at that as well, and I was able to play with him a few times in my early years to kind of pick his brain on how he did it.

You mentioned seam and wrist position. You have a couple of grips for your arm ball and then obviously the seam variations to impart overspin and topspin to your stock ball. How important is seam presentation for you, especially given that you don't try to hide the ball much at release?

Yeah, I think that's kind of the subtle nature of your wrist. Especially in subcontinent conditions, if it's on the seam it tends to spin a bit more than cross seam, so you can play with that. A scrambled seam might skid. On the seam you might get more grip.

Whether it's a full cross-seamer, you get variation like that. In New Zealand, with the grass and bounce you need more over-spin and on the seam.

We've seen a lot of legspinners and mystery spinners go away from on-the-seam because they're trying to disguise the wrong'un or the legspin versus the carrom. But as a finger spinner, if you can stay on the seam and then subtly change where the ball lands on the pitch, whether it's slightly under and hits the leather and skids on versus where it hits the seam, that gives you variation as well.

You speak about all those permutations and combinations, and you have to assess all of this within four overs, sometimes within a few balls. How challenging is that in T20 cricket?

[Smiles] Yeah, I think that's the biggest challenge. You get an understanding of a pitch before you bowl, whether the seamers have bowled any cutters or anything like that. The more you play in different conditions, the more you get an understanding.

In Colombo we've seen a lot of spin already. On the seam and slightly slower has been spinning the most. You kind of get an understanding. You might still try a few different variations while you're out there, but like you said you don't have a lot of time.

As a spin unit, usually whoever bowls first might try a couple of different options and relay it back to the other guys, say look this is what I've found, and then go from there.

How important are the inputs from analysts and support staff in that process?

Yeah, it's a massive part of the game these days, analysis and scouting. Whether you're watching footage or what the wickets traditionally do, you get an understanding of what could work to start. Then if you have to go away from that you do, and if you don't it makes things a little bit easier.

I know you've touched a bit on bowling to left-handers earlier but how do you approach that match-up in general, knowing that you are bowling into their natural swing arcs?

I think again it's weighing up the phases of the game, whether the wicket's flat, small boundaries. Watching [Keshav] Maharaj to [Shivam] Dube, he knows Dube is going to take on any spinner [chuckles], so it might be coming around the wicket, bowling wide and trying to get hit to deep point.

Another option is full and straight, almost like a yorker. If there's a slightly bigger side and there's a bit of turn, it might be staying in that arc and seeing if he wants to take me on.

The dimensions will dictate a little bit. The wicket will dictate as well, and the stage of the game.

When you are out there as both captain and bowler, how do you separate instinct from responsibility? Is there a moment when a bowler in you wants the ball against a left-hander but the captain in you hesitates?

You don't really want to shy away. Sometimes match-ups are important in cricket, but if there's a left-right combination you're going to have to do it.

We've seen a lot of offspinners go to two left-handers at the moment because it's a good match-up. It'll be the same throughout this tournament. Two left-handers in, you'd be silly not to bowl an offspinner. Two right-handers in, you can bowl a left-arm spinner. One of each, you've still got the legspin option.

It's weighing up what's the most attacking option with the ball, what phase of the game, and what the batsman is trying to do.

But really, how tough is it to captain when you are also one of the frontline bowlers in the side?

As a captain, you can get kind of caught up in just your four overs and that's it as a player or as a bowler. So for me, it's trying to, you know, get out of my over and then about what am I thinking about next, what's best for the team. So yeah, I found that the biggest thing. [Captaincy] has actually been quite good for my bowling. It's, you know, trying to make sure everyone else is in a good place, are clear with what they want to do at the top of their mark, and then just go from there, whether it's a seamer or a spinner. And obviously when you're under pressure, it can be a bit more challenging but as long as the guys are clear on what they want to do, it just comes down to execution at the end of the day. And if you miss, that's fine.

After all these years, what still challenges you about left-arm orthodox spin in T20 cricket?

Yeah, I guess you're always trying to improve. It's the nature of it. In T20 cricket now it's how do you become more deceptive, whether it's variations or whatever it is.

But the art of left-arm spin still needs to be an attacking option. I'm still trying to take wickets. Teams stack their batting, but the only way to really slow teams down in T20 is to take wickets, whether it's at the start or any time. So it's being able to still try to be aggressive, and that might look different for anyone, whether it's a seamer, offspinner or traditional left-arm spinner.

Finally, what would your advice be to a young left-arm orthodox spinner trying to make a career in this era?

I still think you need to really learn how to spin the ball. You can, I guess, always work on accuracy, but if you can get good revs on the ball to start with and then play around with variations, that helps.

If you can master a good stock ball, you can build from there. In slightly slower conditions that makes it easier, and the variations become more important when the wickets get flatter. But your stock ball is key, I guess.