PAK vs NZ: ‘I’m trying to keep developing my Punjabi’ says Ish Sodhi

• Ish Sodhi stated that Pakistan holds a particular place in his heart.
• He brushed out the prospect that Pakistan’s victory over England.
• In spite of Pakistan’s three-nil loss to England.

Ish Sodhi, a spinner for New Zealand, stated on Friday that Pakistan holds a particular place in his heart because his grandmother spent her early years there before relocating to India.

“Like my mother’s father, my grandmother was born in Pakistan’s Punjab region. Sodhi described his relationship to Pakistan as “very much half Pakistani, like so.”

After 18 years, the New Zealand Test squad arrived in Karachi on Thursday to begin a historic visit that will include two Test matches and three One-Day Internationals.

The leg player expressed excitement about giving his side as much support as he can during the two-match Test series against Pakistan, which gets underway in Karachi on December 26.

The 30-year-old spinner, who was reinstated to the Test squad after a four-year absence, claimed that returning to India is meaningful for him because his grandmother originally hailed from Pakistan.

“It’s great to be able to return and engage with the local culture; everyone has been welcoming and cordial, and I’m working to improve my Punjabi. My daughter is two and a half years old. I must continue honing such abilities if I want her to learn any Punjabi. Consequently, I’m glad to be here,” he remarked.

When asked whether he would like to say something in Punjabi, he responded, “Look, I’m trying hard, you know, I don’t want to upset my mum by saying something wrong, but I’m like, I’m just going to carry on improving.”

The New Zealand player from Ludhiana responded to a question by stating that he and his father are arranging a trip to Pakistan to meet their family.

Sodhi said that he was eager to get to know the local conditions and was thrilled to be playing against a “very strong” Pakistani team.

In spite of Pakistan’s three-nil loss to England, he continued, they are a very powerful team, and he thought they played solid cricket against England.

He brushed out the prospect that Pakistan’s victory over England provided an advantage for New Zealand against the host team.

“I thought England played some incredible cricket. They appear to be operating at the height of their abilities right now. They did that superbly, playing a style of cricket that I don’t believe has ever been seen in Test cricket.”

“Pakistan played excellent cricket throughout the series, especially with the bat, in my opinion, despite their three-nil loss. Therefore, I’m hoping that as a bowling and batting unit, we can, you know, put them to a good fight,” he remarked.

In preparation for the Pakistan tour, Sodhi changed his action, which he hopes would enable him to produce more pace with the red ball in the air. This will be his first Test match since 2018.

I haven’t recently played a lot of red-ball cricket. Therefore, it’s just a matter of figuring out how my game would appear in a red ball format. Whether it’s with the ball, the bat, or the field, I want to help the team as much as I can. That is therefore my main objective for the upcoming season, he stated.

“I used to walk into a ball for a long time. I believe Shane Warne used to be my hero. I therefore aspired to be like that when I was younger. However, because I’ve played so much T20 over the past few years, I believe that attempting to gain a little more momentum in T20 Cricket is something I’ve modified.”

“It has been for white ball cricket, but I hope it will help me get a little more pace out of some of these surfaces in red ball cricket,” he continued.

While he believed that spinners would receive some assistance from Pakistani conditions, he did not anticipate them to be very favourable.

“Hopefully there is some spin there, but I don’t believe there have been a lot of spin-producing situations. If you can maintain consistency over an extended period, it’s more. In order to put pressure on the Pakistani hitters, I’m just going to attempt to get something off the surface,” he said.

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