Ish Sodhi, New Zealand bowler, World Cup 2019 Player Full Profile: Sodhi's wrist-spin and guile provide exciting options to Kiwis

It’s not possible for everyone to have a cracking season and it was a summer of disappointment for Ish Sodhi . He was often overlooked in favour of Todd Astle, but in the end Astle did not do enough to get a World Cup spot, which saw Sodhi returned to the team that he had so recently been left out of. Punjabi by birth, Sodhi’s family moved to South Auckland when he was still quite young. Living right on the border between Auckland and Northern Districts, he got to pick who he played for and he chose to play his cricket for Northern. He bowls with a traditional Australian-style action similar to Shane Warne, Adam Zampa or Amit Mishra. This may be partly due to Sodhi having been mentored by Stuart McGill. This action allows him to have a good wrong ‘un and he even debuted a flipper in a recent match. The wrong ‘un has become one of the most important deliveries in cricket again, after years of being a less effective option. With batsmen setting up early to hit with the spin, making them unsure about which way that the ball is going to turn means that they can not attack a bowler as effectively unless they are reading the ball from the hand. Sodhi is seen as a more attacking option than Mitchell Santner, and he has formed an effective partnership with Lockie Ferguson on a couple of occasions, but he may only get to bowl if the pitch suits two spinners. One of his main highlights with the ball was his 6/11 for Adelaide Thunder in last season’s Big Bash. If he gets the chance to bowl at the tail, he can be very effective at cleaning them up. For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, click here