New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi continued to torment India in the shortest format, taking two wickets during Sunday’s T20 World Cup Super 12 clash to add to his record tally against the Men in Blue. The 29-year-old was already the leading wicket-taker against India in T20Is ahead of the all-important clash at the Dubai International Stadium, with 17 from 12 games. 

In his 13th appearance against the country of his birth, Sodhi dismissed Rohit Sharma (14) and skipper Virat Kohli (9) to extend his haul to 19. Incidently, India is Sodhi’s favourite opposition in T20Is, with 16 wickets against Australia his next best tally against an opposition. 

The Ludhiana-born spinner finished with figures of two for 17 from four overs and played a key role as India were restricted to a paltry 110-run total in 20 overs. 

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After Trent Boult and Tim Southee removed openers Ishan Kishan (4) and KL Rahul (18) respectively, Sodhi struck to pile further misery on India with Sharma’s dismissal. 

A short ball from Sodhi was mistimed by the ‘Hitman’ in his attempted pull, picking out Martin Guptill at long-on who took a sharp, diving catch. Sharma, who is India’s highest run-scorer in the format against New Zealand, failed to fire for a second game in a row at the showpiece event, after recording a golden duck against Pakistan.

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Sodhi then got the big wicket of skipper Kohli, who could not repeat his heroics from the opening fixture against Babar Azam’s side. Kohli didn’t get enough purchase on an attempted slog, picking out Boult well inside the boundary rope at long-on to perish at the start of the 11th over. 

Meanwhile, Boult continued India’s struggles against left-arm pacers with a three-wicket haul, dismissing Kishan, Hardik Pandya (23) and Shardul Thakur (0) while conceding only 20 runs. His pace partners Southee (1/26) and Adam Milne (1/30) were also among the wickets.