Watch: Rachin Ravindra nearly smooches Mitchell Santner in joyful celebration after Rishabh Pant's wicket

New Zealand National Cricket Team player Mitchell Santner played a massive role in the win of the team in the second Test against the India National Cricket Team. He helped his team register a famous win at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

One of the major reasons behind New Zealand winning the second Test against India was Santner. He spun a web around the India batters with the ball in both innings and made sure that he didn't let the opposition go ahead of his team right from the start.

Mitchell Santner makes a mockery of Indian batters

Mitchell Santner picked 7 wickets in the first innings that helped New Zealand take a massive lead of over 100 runs. However, he didn't stop there as he came up with equally same effort in the second innings. The all-rounder was all over the batters yet again and didn't let them chase the target.

Mitchell Santner picked big names in Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and others. He claimed his second five-wicket haul in the match and registered his career-best figures in Test cricket, leading his team to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series.

Not only with his bowling, Mitchell Santner also came up with the sensational field effort that provided New Zealand with the wicket of Rishabh Pant. The keeper-batter got run out on a duck and it potentially was the turning point for the team in the last innings of the game.

It happened when Ajaz Patel was bowling to Virat Kohli. The batter tapped the ball to the left of backward point, where Mitchell Santner was stationed. Kohli called for the run, but the New Zealand player came up with the clean pick-up and throw that caught Rishabh Pant well short of his crease.

With Santner helping the team take the wicket of Rishabh Pant, Rachin Ravindra was elated with it. He couldn't control his emotions and nearly went on to smooch his teammate. The video went viral immediately and invited many hilarious reactions.

Rachin Ravindra and Mitchell Santner almost kiss

Here's the clip:

Rachin and Santa 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/dW3L0UACSJ

— Vector (@Vectorism_) October 26, 2024

India got all out for 245 runs and lost the game by 113 runs

In the chase, India had a solid start, with Yashasvi Jaiswal (77) and Rohit Sharma (8) showing intent. They had a 34-run opening partnership before the captain departed in the sixth over. Shubman Gill (23) and Jaiswal continued with the aggressive approach and added 62 runs for the second wicket.

However, just when it seemed India were in the front seat, Mitchell Santner, yet again, was all over batters, picking another fifer in the game. India were left reeling at 167 for seven and was under massive pressure. Ravichandran Ashwin (18) and Ravindra Jadeja (42) came up with the handy 39-run partnership.

But they, too, couldn't carry on as New Zealand kept chipping in with wickets at regular intervals. India got all out for 245 runs and lost the game by 113 runs and went 2-0 up in the series. This also saw India losing a series at home after 12 long years.