Modern international cricket rarely pauses to catch its breath, and New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner made no effort to sugarcoat the physical toll on Tuesday.On the eve of the five-match ODI series opener against India at Eden Park, Auckland, Santner admitted the relentless, cross-format schedule has left his squad feeling “a little jarred” and deemed the packed home series decidedly “taxing”.Across just over a month, the two sides are cramming in five T20Is across four venues followed by five ODIs and two high-stakes World Test Championship Tests starting November 19. For the two teams, the transition from breathless 20-over night fixtures to 50-over grinds has come with virtually zero breathing room.“It’s a very quick turnaround. With the travel and the late finishes in T20 cricket, the guys are a little bit jarred.
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Recovery is a massive part of modern-day cricketing schedule nowadays,” Santner said. “With one-day cricket and quick turnarounds, it can be quite taxing. You want to play your best team all the time, but with the schedules these days and the quick turnarounds, it’s pretty hard to do.”The demanding schedule, complicated further by heavy dew and late-night travel during the T20 leg, has forced the Black Caps to rethink their match-eve routines. Long net sessions have taken a backseat to ice baths, physio rooms and active recovery.“Guys just have to be on top of it. Whatever it looks like… So training might look like another recovery day rather than bowling a lot,” Santner said.That squeeze makes player rotation inevitable — a necessity Santner believes comes with a silver lining. “…it creates depth, and we’ve seen guys coming in and stepping up straight away,” he pointed out.Looming over this wear and tear is a ticking clock. With the 2027 ODI World Cup less than a year away, Santner acknowledged the tournament in South Africa could mark the final ODI chapter for several members of New Zealand’s ageing squad, including himself.“Everyone’s kind of 34 or 35,” said the 34-year-old Santner. “With one-day cricket being in the cycle after this World Cup, the focus is going to shift again to T20 cricket with the T20 World Cup being the next priority. So, yeah, I guess no one’s told me anything yet, but it could be.”
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