Was heavily inspired by Anil Kumble as young leg-spinner, reveals Ish Sodhi

Was heavily inspired by Anil Kumble as young leg-spinner, reveals Ish Sodhi

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Ish Sodhi has become a permanent fixture in NZ limited over side.

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New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has revealed that Anil Kumble had a great influence on him along with Stuart MacGill and Shane Warne as a young leg-spinner and stated that interactions with them have been great. He further added that Shane Warne has the greatest cricketing brain according to him.

Ish Sodhi, who has played 33 ODIs, 17 Tests and 45 T20Is for New Zealand, has been rated quite highly for his aggressive bowling in the shortest format of the game. The leg-spinner, who made his debut in 2013, has finally managed to carve out his place in the national limited-overs squad by constantly improving since being in and out of the squad every now and then. 

27-year old revealed that Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill and Anil Kumble have had a great impact on his career as he drew inspiration from them as a kid. Sodhi also added that he has had great interactions with all of them and the common trait between them is that they all are aggressive. 

“Then being part of a generation where YouTube is accessible and I watched videos of Shane Warne and from there my love for leg-spin developed. After that, I started following Anil Kumble, and then Stuart MacGill. Those three during that era were the best and for me watching them as a young leg-spinner was a great inspiration,” Sodhi said as quoted by Hindustan Times. 

“Great interactions, all of them! The main thing that they all have in common is that they are aggressive and always looking for wickets.”

Sodhi was with the Rajasthan Royals for a couple of seasons (2018-2019), where he picked the brains of Warne, who was serving as the team’s mentor. Earlier, when New Zealand toured India in the winter of 2016, with Kumble as India’s coach, Sodhi had the opportunity to get insights from the third-highest wicket-taker in the world. Sodhi insisted was fortunate to have shared meaningful and impactful sessions with all three. 

“Shane Warne has got the greatest cricketing brain I have come across. He understands the game really well and has a very simple approach. Anil Kumble was great when I spoke to him for about an hour in Kolkata once. Also spoke to him about his battles with Australia and what it was like to bowl in India. Something like changing your lengths and I got some valuable insights. I also worked a lot with Stuart MacGill for a couple of years,” he said.

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