T20 World Cup 2021: "We don't have Ishq with Ish Sodhi" - Aakash Chopra on the spinner's match-winning performance against India
Aakash Chopra has light-heartedly stated that there is no love lost between Ish Sodhi and the Indian batters as the New Zealand leg-spinner was the architect of his side's win against Team India.
Ish Sodhi returned figures of 2/17 in his four-over spell in last night's T20 World Cup 2021 Group 2 encounter between the two sides. The spell helped New Zealand restrict the Virat Kohli-led side to a score of 110/7, which they chased down easily with eight wickets in hand and more than five overs to spare.
While reviewing the encounter in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra picked Ish Sodhi as his Player of the Match. He elaborated:
"We don't have Ishq with Ish Sodhi, we have enmity with him and he has enmity with us. We are not able to understand how to play Ish Sodhi. My player of the match is definitely Ish Sodhi."
The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that Ish Sodhi was economical as well apart from scalping the big wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Chopra observed:
"If you see his bowling, 17 runs in four overs and two wickets. And the two wickets were Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who played at No.3 and No.4. He bowls in good areas and bowls few bad deliveries."
Ish Sodhi named Player of the Match with vital wickets in the middle overs in Dubai. Sodhi finished with 2-17 from his four overs with the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. #T20WorldCup https://t.co/TFEwxaWXcL
Ish Sodhi enticed both Sharma and Kohli to play the big shots by keeping a check on the singles. The two Indian batting stalwarts holed out to long-on in an attempt to push the accelerator pedal.
For the complete T20 World Cup 2021 schedule, click here.
"Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner were the reason for our defeat" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra pointed out that Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner had almost done an encore of their match-winning performance against India in the last T20 World Cup. He said:
"Let's be honest. The pressure was being created from the other end as well. Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi were the reason for our defeat in the World T20 opening encounter in Nagpur in 2016 and here also they were the reason for our defeat."
The 44-year-old also questioned the Indian batters for succumbing against spin bowling. Chopra stated:
"They bowled eight overs and we didn't hit a single four. We are not Indians if we are unable to hit a four in eight overs bowled by spinners. It is understandable if we get stuck in front of seam, bounce and swing but it is a problem if we surrender in front of spin."
Sodhi: 2/17
Santner: 0/15
India failed to hit a boundary in the eight overs bw the two of them. (1/44 in 8 overs vs Pak in 1st game)
Do India's batters have a spin problem?
cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/1…
#IndvNZ #T20WorldCup https://t.co/DiubUnfGMC
Sodhi and Santner conceded just 32 runs in the eight overs they bowled as a pair. They didn't give the Indian batters any freebies, bowling 20 dot balls in the process.