India vs New Zealand 2019: Battle of the Heavyweights

#4 Kuldeep Yadav/ Yuzvendra Chahal vs Ish Sodhi – The spinners’ huddle

Kuldeep and Chahal - The stumbling block for New Zealand

Yuzvendra Chahal recorded the best bowling figures for an Indian spinner in Australia when he claimed 6 for 42 in the decider against Australia at Melbourne. Earlier, his wrist-spin partner Kuldeep Yadav took 5 wickets in the rain-affected last Test match at Sydney. Both are in good form in recent times and could be a handful if they operate in tandem.

Unfortunately for India, the continued absence of Hardik Pandya will negate that option and as such the two wrist-spinners will be rotated over the 5 ODIs in the series. Whoever finds himself in the playing XI, would definitely make an impact on the game with his wicket-taking abilities in the middle-overs.

The tactic for Kohli would be to introduce one wrist-spinner at a time and replace him with the other as the series moves on. That way the Kiwi batsmen would be left to wonder about the mystery surrounding these two gifted wrist-spinners right through the series.

Ish Sodhi - The surprise weapon

Ish Sodhi is not in the same class as the Indian spinners. But he has been in terrific form in the series against Sri Lanka when he took 8 wickets in 3 matches. Besides, the Indian batsmen would be tempted to break free against Ish Sodhi after facing the relentless bowling of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson which might bring Sodhi into play.

There will be a carnival of leg-spinners on show in the series who could dictate the middle-overs and thereby the series.