Tried to expect less from myself after time away – Sodhi

New Zealand legspinner Ish Sodhi has said that learning to expect less from himself helped him forge a successful comeback to the Test team. Sodhi had spent nearly two years out of the Test side, before earning a recall for New Zealand’s two-Test series against Zimbabwe on the back of impressive performances in limited-overs cricket, most notably in the World T20 in India earlier in the year.

Sodhi played an important role in New Zealand’s 2-0 sweep over the hosts, picking up eight wickets in the two Tests at 24.87. With New Zealand now gearing up for the next leg of their African sojourn – a two-Test series against South Africa – Sodhi reflected on his successful comeback while addressing the media in Durban, where the first Test begins on Friday.

“It was obviously very nice to win two Tests away from home, in pretty flat conditions. To take 20 wickets on those surfaces is obviously a very good effort for us, and, personally, I’m pretty happy with the way the ball came out, mainly in the second Test,” he said. “I think I tried to lose a bit of the expectations I had on myself being away from the Test side for a couple of years. To be able to do that was pretty pleasing.”

Sodhi further felt improving his fitness was an important step, and along with a change in approach, helped him hit the right areas more consistently. “I think I’m trying to keep it a lot simpler. I guess that’s probably why I played a little bit more white-ball cricket for New Zealand , because I was able to be a lot more consistent with my lines and lengths. But also, I think it’s something to keep reinforcing, because in the first Test match, I was a little bit nervous and I didn’t stick to those processes as well as I could,” he said. “But, grateful that I got another opportunity and I was able to do that, so just a good reinforcer to keep things simple and …

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