CLT20 2014: Ish Sodhi delighted to be back in India while representing Northern Districts

Sep 12, 2014

New Zealand’s Indian-origin leg-spinner Ish Sodhi’s is delighted at coming back to the country of his birth and is looking to make a telling impacti n the upcoming Champions League T20 (CLT20), representing his side Northern Districts.

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Speaking to CLT20.com, Sodhi spoke about the early cultural conundrum that some of his teammates faced, early after arrival, “It is really great to play with the bunch of guys you started playing your cricket who are there with me in India now. It is quite sentimental in a way and exciting at the same time. A lot of us haven’t travelled to this part of India at all. It is nice to be able to see different sort of cultures and play cricket at the same time. It is quite refreshing. We have seen a little bit of India and few of the boys are starting to know what to order on the menus”, he said.

Turning his attention to his craft, leg spin, Sodhi stated India’s highest Test wicket-taker Anil Kumble and Australian spin legend Shane Warne as the people he looked up to, “ I started watching a lot of Anil Kumble and Shane Warne videos. I thought to myself, “Anil Kumble is a tall man, he bowls leg-spin, and maybe I can try and do that”. It almost sort of went from there when it comes to me bowling leg-spin more consistently.”

Playing in alien conditions and an unforgiving environment for bowlers may mentally take a toll on some before a ball is bowled but Sodhi remains upbeat about his team’s chances, he said, “ I believe we have the personnel to do it and our coach backs us hundred percent as does each one of our players. We just need to continue to have the confidence in ourselves that we can do well in the competition.”

If Northern Districts qualify, the Ludhiana-born tweaker may get to play in Mohali, Chandigarh in his ancestral state, Punjab and the Sodhi admits that it would be a dream come true for him,

“It is quite exciting. A few of my family members would be able to watch me bowl Live. They have only been able to watch me bowl in the Test matches on TV and it will be really nice if my Grandmother can come and watch a game in Mohali.”

Complete coverage of Champions League T20 2014 here