'He's always really confident' - Ish Sodhi reveals the challenges of bowling to Virat Kohli [Exclusive Interview]

Ish Sodhi has been a stalwart of leg-spin bowling for New Zealand over the years. A primarily short-format player, Sodhi has represented New Zealand 142 times and is the Black Caps' leading wicket-taker in the format, with 165 scalps. He has taken them at an average of 23.01 and an economy rate of 8.14. Sodhi has also played 54 ODIs and 21 Tests, taking 64 wickets and 58 wickets, respectively.

Sodhi, a T20I franchise journeyman, has travelled across the globe, having taken 335 wickets in 314 matches. Across his experiences in international and franchise cricket, he has had several battles with multiple Indian stars, especially batting talisman Virat Kohli. Sodhi has dismissed the Indian batter six times in 15 innings across formats, holding a significant say in the matchup.

Sodhi revealed the difficulties it took in bowling to a batter of Kohli's calibre, with the latter always trying to dominate matchups and put the bowlers under pressure. He lauded Kohli's competitive nature and expressed his luck at being able to have favourable matchups against his counterpart.

The leg-spinner also revealed the technicalities of bowling spin in the modern era, where bowling full would mean the batters are easily able to score runs. He referred to India's wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who has been regarded for his power game.

In a candid chat with CricTracker, Sodhi shed light on the battles with Kohli and the intricacies of bowling spin in the modern era of T20 cricket.

Excerpts from the Interview

You’ve bowled to Virat Kohli many times — what’s the toughest thing about getting him out?

"I think the toughest thing about Virat Kohli is his demeanour is just so competitive. You know, he doesn't really let you feel like you're ever on top. Like, you know, whether you're bowling really well or whether you're, you know, going past his bat or maybe looking likely, I feel like his body language never really changes. He's always really confident. He's always really up and at him. And, you know, he comes and taps and he runs for two really quickly. So, you know, whether sometimes, you know, some guys are feeling that way internally and they might not be reading it so much, you can never really tell with that guy because he's always so competitive and always so up for the battle. And so, you never really feel like you're on top. But, yeah, he's a phenomenal player. And, you know, to share the field with some greats like that and, you know, at times, come up on the winning side of those games is something really special."

You looked into the mindset of Rishabh Pant as a big hitter—what’s the toughest length you’ve learned gets targeted the most by aggressive batters?

"It's really funny these days because, you know, we used to think a good length is a really full length. But these days, you know, as soon as, you know, like we often used to say, keep getting hit on the front foot, keep getting hit on the front foot, it's good. But these days, if you're slightly full, the ball's like, it's irrelevant which way it spins, how fast it is, you know, the drift that you're getting, etc. The ball tends to fly more frequently than not. And I suppose, you know, Rishabh Pant is someone that you mentioned. If he hits the ball 60% to 70% cleanly, the ball goes for six. So, it's really tough to be able to do that when, you know, the ball is so full and it doesn't have a chance to move so much. So, nowadays, when I coach young kids or I'm speaking to, you know, some young spinners, I say, what do you think is a good length? And, you know, they'll go out and they'll mark it out, but then I'll step out five meters. And if you stand as a batter and you see five-meter length, you know, put on the wicket, you'll think that's a really short ball. You know, why is that statistically got the lowest economy rate in T20 cricket? Well, you know, nowadays, anything slightly fuller of that is just too easy for batters to be able to hit for six. So, the margins become a lot smaller. And maybe, perhaps, as time's gone on, the length has become slightly shorter."