Rashid Khan is the best leg-spinner in the world right now: Ish Sodhi

As the entire world has come to a standstill, the cricketing fraternity has also taken a back step. Since March, there hasn’t been any international cricket. It is unlikely that any form of professional cricket matches would be played in the next few months. However, during this lockdown, cricketers have taken time off from their game and have been interacting with their fans.

On Wednesday, New Zealand Ish Sodhi caught up with CricTracker via an Instagram live session. During this interaction, the leg-spinner answered several questions for his fans.

Upon being asked who is the best leg-spinner in the world at the moment according to him, the India-born leggie had quite a straightforward answer. He revealed that Rashid Khan of Afghanistan is the best leg-spinner currently. He also said he often watches videos of his bowling to observe the subtle variations.

‘Even Yuzi said that Rashid is at the next level’: Ish Sodhi

“Rashid Khan is the best leg-spinner at the moment. It’s really hard to go past him, he’s amazing. I sit and watch old and new videos of him,” the 27-year-old said.

Talking further on the point, the New Zealand player said that Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also has a similar opinion. He recalled the time he and Chahal went out for a meal and the Haryana leggie expressed that he feels Khan is at another level. Sodhi further pointed out that it is the pace at which the Afghani spinner bowls which makes him deceptive.

“I remember speaking of him with Yuzi sitting at a restaurant in Auckland and we were talking about all leggies in the world and we spoke about Rashid Khan. Even Yuzi said that Rashid is at the next level. The pace at which he bowls, it’s very hard to pick him,” Sodhi said.

Sodhi made his international debut for New Zealand in 2013. He has since gone on to play 17 Tests, 33 ODIs and 45 T20Is. In Tests, the right-arm bowler has 41 wickets while in ODIs, he has picked up 43 wickets. In the shortest format though, he has been quite successful, having picked up 53 wickets at an average of 24.09.