Pakistan is 'special' for me - Ish Sodhi

New Zealand leg spinner Ish Sodhi has stated that Pakistan he holds a particular place in his heart because his grandma stayed in Pakistani Punjab before migrating to India.

“My grandmother was born in the Punjab side of Pakistan, the same as my mom's father. So pretty much half Pakistani, like so,” Sodhi said.

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After 18 years, the New Zealand Test squad landed in Karachi on Thursday for a historic tour of two Tests and three ODIs.

Sodhi expressed his desire to contribute as much as he can for his team during the two-match Test series against Pakistan, which begins in Karachi on December 26.

The 30-year-old spinner, who was returned to the Test squad after a four-year absence, noted that his grandmother lived in Pakistan before going to India, making his visit to this country more special.

“It's cool to be able to come back and connect with the culture here, the people have been friendly and warm, and I'm trying to keep developing my Punjabi. I've got a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. I want her to learn some Punjabi, so I've got to keep developing those skills. So, it's good to be here,” he said.

“Look, I'm trying hard, you know, I don't want to make my mum upset by saying something wrong, but I'm like, I'm just going to keep on developing,” he said when asked if he would like to say something in Punjabi.

In response to a question, the New Zealand cricketer born in Ludhiana stated that he and his father are planning a trip to Pakistan to reconnect with their ancestors.

Sodhi said that he was excited to face a "very strong" Pakistan team and was looking forward to understand the local conditions.

He noted that Pakistan is a very strong team, despite losing 3-0 to England, and he considered that Pakistan played well against England.

He denied the suggestion that Pakistan's loss against England provided New Zealand an advantage over the home team.

“I think the way that England played was amazing cricket. I think they're at the peak of their powers at the moment. They performed well and played a brand of cricket that I don't think we've ever seen in Test cricket, so they did that well."

"I think Pakistan, although they lost three-nil, played really good cricket throughout the series, especially with the bat. So, hopefully, we can, as a bowling unit and a batting unit, be able to, you know, put up a good competition against them,” he said.

Sodhi will play his first Test since 2018, and in preparation for the Pakistan visit, he has changed his action in order to generate more air speed with the red ball.

“I haven't played a lot of red-ball cricket recently. So, it's just trying to figure out what my game looks like in a red ball format. I want to contribute to the team as much as I can, whether it's with the ball with the bat in the field. And so that's my big goal for the coming series,” he said.

“For a long time, I used to walk into a ball. I think my hero used to be Shane Warne. So, when I was young, I wanted to be like that. But you know, over the last few years, I think especially in T20 Cricket, trying to get a bit more momentum, that's been something I've changed because I've played a lot of T20."

"It's been for white ball cricket, but I think hopefully, in red-ball cricket, it helps me get a bit more pace out of some of these surfaces,” he added.

He hoped that conditions in Pakistan would offer a little bit of help to spinners but did not expect them to be extraordinarily conductive.

“Hopefully, there's a little spin there, but I don't think it's been a hell of many spin conditions. It's more if you can be consistent over a long period. So, I'm just going to try to get something out of the surface, and we can put some pressure on the Pakistani batters,” he concluded.