Ish Sodhi says leg spinners' ability to get wickets makes them handy

04/17/2019

New Zealand leg spinner Ish Sodhi has stated that leg spinners enable a team to scalp wickets in the middle overs, which hampers the opposition’s ability to score heavily in the death overs. The Rajasthan Royals spinner feels that this is the reason that leg spinners are all the rage at the moment.

The most successful teams in world cricket possess the finest leg spinners with them, be it South Africa’s Imran Tahir, Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, England’s Adil Rashid, Australia’s Adam Zampa, India’s Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, and New Zealand’s Ish Sodhi, among others.

Even in franchise cricket, leg spinners like Khan and Tahir are the most sought after bowlers for their wicket taking skills. Sunrisers Hyderabad have been reliant on Khan for securing four overs of an innings every time he bowls, since three seasons now. The 20-year-old has claimed a staggering 44 wickets in just 38 matches, similarly, Tahir, with 66 wickets in 46 matches, and Chahal, with 95 wickets in 75 matches, have been phenomenal for their respective sides.

No squad in the World Cup is complete without at least a leg spinner in them, which signifies their impact. Ish Sodhi feels that the leg spinners ability to scalp wickets in the middle overs in ODIs is what makes them such a potent weapon.

"These days, most teams end up scoring 300-plus totals easily in ODIs. So the key is to get wickets throughout the middle overs and make the last 10 overs as difficult for the opposition as possible. If a team is only three down at the 40th-over mark, they can easily get 100-120 in the last 10, but if they are six down they won't. That's where leg-spinners come in handy," said Sodhi, reported TOI.

The 26-year-old made his debut for New Zealand way back in 2013, but has only featured in 17 Tests, 13 ODIs and 33 T20Is since then. With just 123 international wickets, he is relatively inexperienced and believes that he failed to play along his strength while trying to imitate other successful spinners like Imran Tahir. But the World Cup-bound player is confident of putting up a better performance, as he is learning on the job.

"Tahir bowls that amazing ball that comes out of the back of his hand, it comes quickly and has a lot of deception. He tried to teach me that ball and I really struggled to pick up what he said. But while trying to get that ball to perfection, I had to figure out my strengths,” the Ludhiana born player said.

"I tried bowling too fast for a long period and that took me away from my strengths. I forgot that my actual strength is to put a lot of rips on the ball and beat batsmen with my bounce. I can't do that if I bowl too fast. It's nice to redevelop that understanding,” he added.

Ish Sodhi says leg spinners' ability to get wickets makes them handy

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