Daryl Mitchell was called into New Zealand's Test team in late 2019 as a replacement for the injured Colin de Grandhomme. He impressed, too, making an assured 73 against England in his first innings and bowling with good control on a sluggish surface at his home ground, Hamilton. He had made his international debut against India in a T20I in February of that year.

Mitchell scored his maiden Test hundred at the start of 2021, in an innings win over Pakistan in Christchurch, and his first ODI century that March. In T20Is, when promoted to open at the 2021 World Cup in the UAE, Mitchell played a key role in New Zealand's run to the final, with an unbeaten 72 against England in the semis. Though New Zealand had a poor tour of England in 2022, losing all three Tests, Mitchell came out of the summer glowing, with two fifties and three hundreds, including 190 at Trent Bridge.

He made his first-class debut at the end of the 2011-12 season and came to prominence by averaging 54.53 the following year. And though he was primarily a middle-order batter, his seam bowling became a useful asset over the years. He won a place in the New Zealand A squad to tour India and Sri Lanka, and while he found life tougher there, he responded with centuries in successive innings the following domestic season. An unbeaten 170 against Canterbury shortly before the England series in 2019 ensured he was in the selectors' thoughts, and when de Grandhomme was forced to pull out of the second Test, Mitchell was selected.

He is the son of former New Zealand rugby union player and coach John Mitchell, who, at the time of his son's Test debut against England, was defence coach for the England rugby union side that lost in the World Cup final.