"Sanju Samson started speaking Tamil, I was a bit thrown" - Ish Sodhi on the thinly-veiled language barrier against Indian players 

New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi recently spoke about his Indian heritage in terms of being able to perceive communication between the players on the pitch. The former No.1 ranked T20I bowler is an ethnic Punjabi who was born in Ludhiana before his family moved to New Zealand when he was four years old

The Men in Blue have come up against a long list of players of Indian origin, requiring them to just tweak the mode of communication a little so that their plans do not get deciphered. Sodhi recounted how Indian players managed to send their messages across when he was on the pitch.

Sodhi recalled that he was thrown off-guard when Sanju Samson, his former teammate at Rajasthan Royals (RR), started talking in Tamil.

"Sanju Samson started to speak a bit of Tamil, then I was a bit thrown," said in an interaction with Prime Sports. "Because I was like it is pretty cool that I can understand these guys are saying but that is just a whole different kettle of fish."

Sodhi once embraced his Indian roots by attempting to do commentary in Punjabi during the build-up to the T20 World Cup 2021. He was also asked to answer a question in Hindi during the course of the tournament.

The leg-spinner has built a penchant for his birth country after claiming 20 wickets in T20I matches between India and New Zealand, which is the highest by any bowler.

He was adjudged the Player of the Match for his spell of 2-17 during the T20 World Cup's Super 12 encounter against India in Dubai last year. Notably, he also registered figures of 3-18 in the Kiwis' win over the Men in Blue at the T20 World Cup 2016.

---

"I have had times in the past on the field where I could understand what they were saying" - Ish Sodhi on being able to understand the Indian players on the ground

Sodhi has so far played 20 T20Is, two Tests and six ODIs against India over the course of his career.

He has also plied his trade for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a couple of seasons, strengthening his link with the country.

Revealing that he used to understand what the Indian players were trying to communicate before they stirred things up, the leg-spinner said:

"I have had times in the past on the field where I could understand what they (Indian players) were saying. I think initially when I first started playing for New Zealand and if I played against India, they didn't expect me to speak the language, but I grew up speaking Punjabi and I understand Hindi reasonably well."

He continued:

"But as soon as I caught on, then they started using different dialects, you started to hear a bit of Marathi or Gujarati just to confuse me a little."

Cricket enthusiasts in India can watch the Men in Blue's tour of New Zealand, starting on November 18 on Prime Video.

Is Ish Sodhi one of the best Indian-origin players to operate overseas? Let us know what you think.