New Zealand National Cricket Team captain Mitchell Santner has slammed the tough pitch as the India National Cricket Team won the second ODI by four runs under the DLS method after rain forced the game to be called off at the Hnry Stadium in Wellington.

The match ended in a disappointing way, but India managed to take a 2-0 lead in the series. New Zealand struggled against India's bowling attack and were bowled out for just 134 runs. Daryl Mitchell was their only batter to score a half-century.

Mitchell Santner admits Indian bowlers outclassed New Zealand after 2nd ODI defeat

Auqib Nabi dismissed both openers, while Anshul Kamboj removed Henry Nicholls to leave New Zealand struggling at 23/3. Gurnoor Brar then produced a brilliant spell, dismissing Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips in the same over before removing Mitchell Santner.

Brar finished with career-best figures of 4/30. The defeat was another big setback for New Zealand. They have now suffered 11 ODI defeats against India in 2026, their most losses against any opponent in a calendar year. The last time New Zealand lost two successive home ODIs was in January 2019, also against India.

After conceding a 0-2 lead to India in the five-match ODI series, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner admitted that the Wellington pitch was difficult for batting and praised the Indian bowlers for putting the hosts under pressure from the start in the second ODI.

Mitchell Santner explains what went wrong for New Zealand as India take 2-0 lead in ODI series

Mitchell Santner said at the post-match presentation, as quoted by Cricbuzz, “It was a tricky wicket. There's no hiding it. I think they bowled really well, especially at the top, challenged us, and obviously, wickets at the start are never ideal. But I think we were still probably a little bit under at the halfway stage, knowing that there was still a little bit in it, which was nice. And the boys bowled really well.”

The star spinner also praised New Zealand's bowling attack for taking regular wickets and keeping India under pressure. Santner explained, “Like we said at Eden Park, it would have been easy for us to just go out there and expect things to happen.

But we bowled really well. We started well, and I guess the only way to get into that target was to take wickets at the top. We managed to do that, and then I think the guys coming back in, spell after spell, managed to get the breakthroughs throughout, which is key in ODI cricket.”

Mitchell Santner makes huge admission after New Zealand's 4-run loss

At the end, Santner admitted that the New Zealand batters needed to show more patience and try to score at least 160-180 runs, even on a difficult pitch. Giving an update on Blair Tickner, Santner said the fast bowler had returned to the hotel, and the team hoped he would recover soon. Since Tickner had suffered a concussion, they wanted to give him enough time to recover.

Mitchell Santner signed off by saying, “As a batting unit, we know it was going to be a tricky surface. But even if there was a potential way of scraping to 160 or 180, we could have gone from there. But yeah, I think they bowled well as well, and obviously, with the weather around, it's always going to be a bit tough to start, and they exploited it very well.”