ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 6, 2021

Ish Sodhi

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

New Zealand

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. How are you following yesterday's game and that nasty-looking blow from the ball?

ISH SODHI: Thankfully it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately I dropped the catch and it went through my hands. But my hands kind of lightened the blow a little bit.

Definitely woke up with a little bit of a headache, but thankfully all the procedures in place have been taken and Doc Cameron ruled out a chance of concussion, which is great.

Q. Not a lot of time to recover and set your sights for an important game for tomorrow. You just did your scouting. Could you talk us through how you're preparing for tomorrow's game?

ISH SODHI: I think across the board, so far in the tournament we've all had a lot of small contributions that have worked out really well for us over the past three games, especially. And we're just trying to remind ourselves what those strengths are.

And we're very aware of the threat that Afghanistan bring. But if we do the basics really well and keep building on what we have been doing well we'll give ourselves a good chance.

Q. Speaking of Afghanistan, (indiscernible) is a fellow spinner. I imagine you've got a lot of admiration for their spin attack and the danger they pose?

ISH SODHI: Absolutely. Spearheaded by Rashid Khan obviously Mujeeb Ur Rahman is phenomenal as well. But Mohammad Nabi is a very cagey offspinner and bowls well through the powerplay too. That's definitely where their threat lies with their bowling attack.

And I'm sure all the batsmen during the scouting meeting have taken it into consideration, as well as the threat they bring with the bat.

I know we spoke about it in depth this morning with our scouting and things like that. So hopefully we can put together some good performances tomorrow.

Q. A new venue for the team tomorrow at Abu Dhabi. What do you guys know about your venue? What are you expecting there?

ISH SODHI: I think across the board everyone speaks of it being a reasonably good batting surface. I think it's considerably different to what Sharjah brings, slightly smaller boundary with a quite low wicket.

And hopefully if there's a bit of bounce in the surface, we can extract that as a bowling attack. It's something I think we do pretty well in New Zealand. Hopefully it does work out pretty well for us.

The big thing for us is definitely the conditions. And I guess when we get a chance to see the wicket and see the conditions at the grounds and stuff, we can hopefully think on our feet and be instinctual when we get out there.

Q. Talk us through a little bit about the knock. How did it feel at the time? And what did you need to do to sort of fix things up and about the, sort of, concussion tests you have to go through.

ISH SODHI: I think in the end it beat me for the lack of pace. Early the ball out, David Wiese gives the ball quite a good whack. I expected it to hit me a little bit sooner than it did.

Thankfully in the end I got my hands in the way. It would have been nice to catch the ball. Once he run, saw that I was all right, reminded me that I dropped the catch. But it's good.

A bit of a knock to the head. A bit of a headache. Initially it was a bit of shock there. But thankfully over the past 24 hours there's been no issues so far. And now we can just move on and look forward to tomorrow.

Q. Do you feel like a bit of a (indiscernible) going through an HIA test?

ISH SODHI: Not quite. I don't really have enough muscle in my bones for that. But, yeah, maybe one day.

Q. What do they do to just check you out?

ISH SODHI: So they go through a protocol out there, ask you a few questions. Doc Cameron came out with physio Tommy. They ask you a few questions to make sure that you're kind of there and there with everyone around you and things like that.

But also there's a concussion test that we do, kind of during the preseason, we do it every year, and we just try to revisit that and make sure that your numbers are all the same.

Q. Obviously not a game you would have wanted to miss coming up either?

ISH SODHI: Yes, very exciting game. I've never played Afghanistan before. Played a few of their players around the world individually, I guess, in franchise competitions and very aware of the threat they pose.

But on the back of that, I think our team's been performing really well. And there's been a lot of people contributing at different times. So hopefully that can continue and someone can put on a match-winning performance like Guppy did against Scotland. I think it will go a long way for us to hopefully putting a good performance on winning the game.

Q. Is it handy for you to know that the equation is pretty simple (indiscernible)?

ISH SODHI: Yes, we've approached almost every game like that so far and hopefully we can do the same tomorrow. Be really clear on what's been working really well for us.

Everyone's been doing a great job behind the scenes and the support staff with the scouting, and there's been a lot of cricket that we've been able to watch, take into account what the conditions are going to be like in Abu Dhabi.

But you can watch as much as you can on TV, but I think it will be the time that we get to the ground, assess the wicket and assess the conditions, and then we can keep moving from there.

Q. How have you celebrated Diwali at the various scenarios, lots of sweets?

ISH SODHI: We're fortunate to have a buffet put on by the chefs. Really fantastic there. And luckily our security manager, Terry, he has some Kashmiri roots. He got on the ear of the chef. Instead of having some fruit or, like, a cake or something for dessert tonight, can we get some gulab jamun and maybe some gadahala. I was pretty gutted that he didn't organize some rasmalai. Obviously that's my favourite sweet. A bit of a shame. But nice to be able to spend Diwali with a couple of people.

It's been really cool because a lot of our Kiwi guys, the Kiwi players have played in the IPL a lot. In the morning, early morning the first thing they said was happy Diwali. So that was really cool.

Q. We see that the two spinners, Trent is coming up in the cricket. So do you think with the upcoming home season of New Zealand, the two spinners will also be handy there as well, in the T20s, like you and your partnership with Mitchell Santner?

ISH SODHI: I think for a long time now we've played two spinners in New Zealand already for a long time. So it's something that's worked reasonably well for us in those conditions.

Considering the wickets in New Zealand are pretty flat; boundaries are really small. So taking wickets is always really important. And I guess to have some variety in your bowling attack is always really important there.

Where over here I think the conditions have been very different at all the grounds you can see. Sharjah has been quite low and slow. And Dubai has had a bit more bounce. And Abu Dhabi, I think, overall pretty good batting surface.

Variety in your attack is always nice to have. And thankfully we found a good balance so far and hopefully we can show it tomorrow when we play against Afghanistan as well.

Q. For you guys to make it to the semis, Afghanistan a bit more complex, do you expect them to come out playing differently? How would the team be viewing that?

ISH SODHI: Personally, I haven't really looked at the run rates a hell of a lot. I wouldn't kind of know at this stage what the equations are around that.

Like you said, it's quite simple for us to keep focusing on what we've been doing well. If we put on a good performance and we come away with a win that means we go to the semis, and that will be great.

I think, although regardless of the equations, we're really aware of the strengths that Afghanistan bring both with the bat and the ball, especially in the spin bowling attack. Being a day game, I'm not too sure if dew is going to play much of a factor.

If we get the basics right for a long enough period of time, keep doing the things we've been doing well, I think we'll give ourselves a good chance.

The first thing we need to do is assess the conditions and see how we're going to do that.

Q. New Zealand have been the most consistent teams in the ICC events over the last half decade. But as we saw in 2019, New Zealand were called underdogs. New Zealand were very unlucky not to win the tournament. The World Test Championship finals, also New Zealand was termed as underdogs. First of all, does the underdog tag stick well with this New Zealand team? And the second part of the question is, tomorrow's game is sort of a virtual quarterfinal. And not only New Zealand and Afghanistan, rather, 1.3 billion Indians will be watching as well. We'll keep an eye on that. Does that bring an added pressure to perform?

ISH SODHI: I guess on the underdog part, I don't think we've ever even spoken about that. We just try to play as good cricket as we possibly can. A big part of it has been the leadership group have harped on a lot about adapting to conditions as quick as we can.

I think that's been tailored into our training. If you come, watch a training, especially when you see some of the guys that have been playing for the last 10, 12 years, they're very specific in their training when it comes to preparing for certain conditions, certain matchups.

That's something we've done pretty well for the past. And really fortunate to play alongside some great players in this era. Some great batsmen obviously led by Kane and Roscoe and the spearhead bowling attack that's done so well in conditions all around the world.

So I think they've been a great benchmark for a lot of us to look up to. And that's been hopefully showing up in our performances over the past while.

I guess looking forward to tomorrow, we see it as another game. I think if we keep it as simple as trying to adapt to the conditions best as we can, and being aware of the threats that Afghanistan pose and also taking into consideration the things we've done really well, if we can do them really well, I think then we can put on a good performance and all that other stuff takes care of itself.

Q. Question about Trent Boult and Tim Southee, finding their reach, being at their very best at the moment. Can you comment about that?

ISH SODHI: I can only read half the question, but I'll speak to it a little bit. I think Trent and Tim are some of the greatest bowlers New Zealand's ever produced. It's been great to have them in this era. What they've done in all three formats of the game is something that's really unique.

They've spearheaded the bowling attack for a really long time. I think the really cool thing that I see with them, I've taken a few bites with them, a lot of people look up to the standard which they produce, whether it be in Test cricket or whether it be putting themselves on the line and always falling (indiscernible) in the T20 cricket and taking wickets in One-Day cricket.

I think it's something fantastic to feed off for the rest of the bowling attack. A lot of young seamers in New Zealand want to bowl like Tim Southee and Trent Boult. I think it's a great reflection of how great they've been for so long.

And another thing is they always keep adapting. Trent's one of the greats going around. He's still working on different slow balls in the nets.

Tim's changing up a few things in T20 cricket to help him be great in all different conditions. So they're still constantly learning and wanting to improve, and that's very inspiring for the rest of the group.