Working on improving my entry through the crease: Ish Sodhi

Ish Sodhi wasn't even in the One-Day International squad for the tour of India. He only came in as a replacement for the injured Todd Astle, but wasn't given a chance to play in the three ODIs prior to the Twenty20 series. When he got his chance though, it was in Delhi, where the ball was coming onto the bat, the Indian openers were set and New Zealand needed a wicket.

He didn't pick up one in the first two overs he bowled. But what he did, was contain the Indian batsmen with his variations. His leg-breaks with the wrong'uns seemed to have kept the Indian batsmen in check as he finished with figures of 25 for 2, with two wickets in an over. Of those 25 runs, 14 were conceded in one, which effectively left him having conceded just 11 in three.

On Friday (November 3), Sodhi was having a chat with one of New Zealand's coaches and was being asked to shift his momentum from the right-hand side to make an effort for it to be straighter given that momentum going towards the batsman is better than it going to the side for someone like Sodhi, who has slowed down since he began.

"I'm just constantly working on trying to improve my entry through the crease," said Sodhi. "That's something I've been working on for the last two-three months, and it's just about keeping on top of that. As much time as we can get is good to keep reinforcing those things.

"I think the biggest thing is that I've tried to understand my bowling a lot more from the outside. Removing myself from certain situations and looking at them from the exterior background. I've worked really hard on my bowling and my action, trying to be aware of what I'm doing and what I need to do to get the ball to a certain area or get the ball to do what I want to do. I think that can only get better as you go. I've been really lucky to have some experiences in international cricket and played in a lot of conditions around the world. So, using the information to make me the most well-rounded bowler that I can be. I can only improve as time goes on."

Sodhi put up a brave performance, much like his teammate Mitchell Santner, who has successfully tied town the Indian batsmen all series. Given Santner's performances in the one-dayers, it is anyone's guess what the impact of the pair of Santner and Sodhi would have been, while working in tandem.

"It's a mutual understanding," said Sodhi when asked how the pair works around each other's game at any given situation. "When you're out there in the middle, you don't have too much time to stop completely and have a chat. You get a gauge from how the others are bowling, with the replays that come up or with pace that he's bowling off the wicket. You get certain information off the wicketkeeper... in the last game for instance, Tom Latham and you try to strategise your over as opposed to the over previously bowled that went for little amount of runs, and think maybe I can attack from one ball, maybe two. If it's gone for quite a few then you need to bring it back. So it's about acknowledging that momentum and feeding off each other."

Much like the pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel, who have worked in tandem against the New Zealand batsmen, who have been unable to resist the temptation to sweep at the sight of spinners. The visitors succeeded in the opening game in Mumbai against Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, but Axar coming into the side has only worked for India given his flight and pace. The pair then, started changing the angle to the New Zealand batsmen by going over the wicket or round the wicket to keep the batsmen guessing. And it's a move that worked in India's favour rather well.

"Our role is pretty much the same. Wrist spinners are more attacking because they extract more turn," said Axar. "They obviously get more turn on any wicket. So, their role is to attack and in the middle overs pick up wickets. Whereas, the finger spinners' aim is to contain the batsmen because if a partnership doesn't build, then pressure builds. When there's pressure from both ends, then there's a better chance of picking up a wicket," he added.

Sodhi and Santner could pick up a tip or two from their Indian counterparts, but on the day, most of the strategies depend on the match situation and the conditions, the 25-year-old New Zealand legspinner reckoned. "You review a lot and do a lot of research and can learn so much of certain guys, but at the end of the day you bowl completely different to the next guy that bowls. I'm just trying to gather information, what works best for me against certain players. And taking conditions into account, especially in T20 cricket, is very important because you have to try and get something out of the wicket or something out of the conditions.

"Batsmen are always constantly trying to go after the spinners, whether Indian or Australian doesn't matter, but they are, so you need to find a way that works and some days it does, some days it doesn't. The more you can minimise that gap, the better."

(CRICBUZZ)