Kiwi spinner Sodhi: 'We've to be more aggressive with the ball against India'

Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi believes New Zealand need to be more aggressive with ball against India's world-class batting unit during second T20I to make an immediate comeback in five-match series. India claimed a six-wicket win in first T20I after chasing down 204 with relative ease to go 1-0 up in five-match series. Sodhi feels hosts didn't bowl many attacking spells to put eugh pressure on visitors.

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'We've to be more aggressive' 

"We put 200 on board again. If we can look to be more aggressive with ball that attitude will be a great learning from first game. If we are going to go for runs or miss out on a couple opportunities for wickets, you only learn after you try it out," said Sodhi on Saturday.

"You have to see how game is going on. But it differs from batsman to batsman and bowler to bowler. You have to discuss with captain and bowling group as well.

"Mitchell Santner and myself do that a lot. Last night he was in outfield so I spoke a lot with Kane (Williamson). I bowled 2-3 overs' spell, and one of m was a defensive spell; or was an attacking spell. So we have to bowl with same attacking attitude throughout," he ded.

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spinner said it is difficult to create pressure on India, which boosts of some world class batsmen but New Zealand must find a way to make an immediate comeback in second T20I. "y have five or six world class batsmen in ir side and it will always be difficult to contain m at best of times. Eden Park with its boundary size is a challenge as well," said Sodhi, who took 2 for 36 on Friday. "Kane was good with bowlers at end of game and thinking as a bowling group was that we have to take wickets. 45 from 4 overs would be decent here but it won't be on many or grounds. So we have to make aggressive shift for next game but we did really good with 200 runs on board. We just need to defend it better."

Sodhi, who will be a crucial part of New Zealand attack again,  also spoke about possibility of Eden Park pitch slowing down for game on Sunday.

"You have to look at wher wicket gets better. We found it was holding on Friday night, cross-seamers were holding a bit and ball was spinning a bit too," he said.

"We will have to see if it gets slower and if re is dew factor like re was under lights (on Friday). It's just one of those grounds where good and b balls go for sixes, and it can be quite hard to contain at times."

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Talking about challenge of playing at Eden Park, Sodhi said: "We don't play a lot of cricket re but it's unique. Boundaries are t favouring any one side, same for both sides, and we have been successful in past re. 

"We just have to figure out how to defend re or if we need to change tactics and bowl first. team manment will have that conversation."

Dew me for a surprise at Eden Park on Friday and Sodhi said it remains to be seen if same conditions will be prevalent for second match. He also felt late starts could be a factor throughout this five-match series.

"I haven't h much time to process it but last night we thought we played a decent game. first half was nicely set up, a huge positive with bat. Indians came out pretty hard in first six overs. y h momentum from end of our innings and we couldn't really go hard at m. 

"Maybe we need to train a bit more under lights orwise we are all used to playing at 8pm starting time. It is t too b and we have played in IPL at night time."

Sodhi, who h dropped a sitter off Virat Kohli, said floodlights sometimes make it difficult to hold on to catches. " lights here are a bit different as most stiums have five-six towers. Here y are low and in a line, so it can be tough catching. It hits you harder when ball comes down, but excuses," he said.  "When that catch went down (off Virat Kohli), I was thinking what if he scores big w. But that is nature of professional cricket and you have to take your chances," Sodhi signed off.

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