Ish Sodhi credits Rohit-Dhawan for taking away the momentum in the 1st T20I

Ahead of the second T20 international game at Rajkot, Kiwi leg-spinner Ish Sodhi felt that the key to making a comeback was to spill India’s momentum. While most of the attention was garnered by Ashish Nehra in the last game, as he was playing his farewell international game, Team India displayed a sensational performance throughout the game.

The game at Rajkot is now a must-win for the Kiwis as they intend to keep the series alive. Ish Sodhi spoke about how well New Zealand shaped up in the One-Day Internationals and as to what went wrong in the series opener at Delhi. He further addressed the experience of playing in Indian conditions on the eve of the 2nd T20I.

We showed that we can play spin much better than the other sides

Speaking of their performances in the preceding ODI series which they lost 2-1, the leg-spinner thought that New Zealand put up a strong performance despite not being able to seal the series their way.

“I think we put up a fantastic performance in Mumbai (in the first ODI of the three-game series lost by the visitors 1 -2) and played pretty well for that win. I think the second game is the only one we kind of struggled with. But the third ODI was a fantastic game and I think we chased extremely well. We showed that we can play spin a lot better than sides that have come here in the past,” said Sodhi at the pre-match media conference.

Credit to Rohit-Dhawan for the splendour start

He felt that momentum was key in the first T20 game and India took all of it with an astounding start from the openers.

“T20 cricket is all about momentum and I think Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan put on a good partnership at the start as that set up the momentum for the rest of the game. I think that’s just about recognising those key moments and how we can slow their momentum down,” he said.

Being 0-1 down is tough 

The 25-year-old portrayed the team atmosphere and how they rare to be at their splendid best to win the game. He admitted that being down in the series wasn’t easy but was hopeful of a potential comeback.

“Every game we play, we try to put on our best performance and try to win for our country and we’re going to approach the same way. We’ll come to the ground tomorrow, have a look at the wicket, distinguish how we’re going to play and hopefully combat the conditions well enough to come out on top. Being 0-1 down in a series is always tough, but it’s two games to come and we’ll have to give our best shot,” said the Kiwi leg-spinner.

Sodhi was a member of the New Zealand A squad that toured India last month and he admitted it helped him get used to the Indian conditions.

“I’d like to think that I’ve improved a lot since the last time I came here. Generally, the driving force is trying to improve and I got 2 for 25 the other day. It’s been nice to spend extra time here with the A team, so the acclimatisation has been a lot easier since the last time I was here,” he said.

When asked about any possible changes for the next game, Sodhi remarked, “Regardless of the team we put out, I think we’re really lucky with the resources to take on most conditions in the world and hopefully we’ll do that tomorrow.”