Rajasthan Royals has named New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi as the replacement of injured young Afghanistan left-arm chinaman bowler Zahir Khan. In the reaction, Ish Sodhi is excited to join the Rajasthan franchise.
19-year-old Afghanistan left-arm chinaman bowler Zahir Khan has been recently ruled out from IPL 2018 due to an injury. Rajasthan Royals had bought him from the 2018 IPL Auction for INR 60 lakh.
Later, Rajasthan Royals decided to sign 25-year-old New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi as the replacement of Zahir Khan.
On Tuesday, the franchise confirmed that news as they released a statement according to newsx, “New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has been signed by the Rajasthan Royals as a replacement for injured Afghanistan bowler Zahir Khan in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL).”
The official Twitter account of the franchise also shared that message.
Royal welcome to @ish_sodhi!
Great to have him in the #RoyalFamily!https://t.co/CBbOS6byA6#JazbaJeetKa #AbBajegaDanka #PadhaaroSa #HallaBol #IPL2018 pic.twitter.com/pvqmsYc71J— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 10, 2018
While Zahir had no international experience as he impressed with his skills during the 2018 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup, Ish Sodhi has the good number of international cricket experiences.
Sodhi has played 15 Tests, 22 ODIs and 26 T20Is where he has picked up 38, 29 and 36 wickets respectively. He was at the no.1 in T20I bowling ranking in last January and currently has stepped down to the no.4 position in T20I bowling ranking.
The Indian born leg-spinner had played the 2016 World T20 on the Indian soil, where his best performance was against India with the bowling figure of 4-0-18-3 (at Nagpur). He also had toured with the New Zealand team on the Indian soil in 2016 and 2017. However, it is his maiden call-up in IPL.
After that announcement, Ish Sodhi expressed his excitement through the Twitter. He reacted on Rajasthan Royals’ official announcement where he wrote, “Can’t wait to be part of the #RoyalFamily – see you all soon and all the best to the boys in game 2! #JazbaJeetKa #AbBajegaDanka #PadhaaroSa #HallaBol #ipl2018”
Can’t wait to be part of the #RoyalFamily – see you all soon and all the best to the boys in game 2! #JazbaJeetKa #AbBajegaDanka #PadhaaroSa #HallaBol #ipl2018 https://t.co/lwm0mbMeZ8
— Ish Sodhi (@ish_sodhi) April 11, 2018
Later, his national team-mate left-arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan congratulated him. McClenaghan is also playing in this IPL for his old team Mumbai Indians. Like Sodhi, McClenaghan is also a replacement player as he replaced the injured left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff.
Congrats bro
— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) April 11, 2018
