Ish Sodhi is far away from home, but the New Zealander of Indian origin hasn’t been homesick this Diwali.

His impressive bowling in the ongoing T20 World Cup has had almost all opponents struggling to tackle his guile.

While he has been helping his side to win matches, the team — thanks to quite a few of the Black Caps cricketers’ experience in the Indian Premier League over the years — did its bit to ensure that Sodhi doesn’t miss his home atmosphere in these festive times.

Though “pretty gutted” for not being able to have his favourite rasmalai, the 29-year-old also thanked New Zealand’s security manager Terry Minish, the man with a bit of Kashmiri roots, for taking the initiative to organise some Indian delicacies as desserts for dinner on Friday.

“We’re fortunate to have a buffet put on by the chefs (at the team hotel), so it’s really fantastic there. And luckily our security manager, Terry, has got some Kashmiri roots. So he got on the ear of the chef and said, ‘Instead of having some fruit or a cake or something for dessert tonight, can we get some gulab jamun and maybe some gajar halwa?’

“I was pretty gutted that he didn’t organise some rasmalai, as obviously, that’s my favourite sweet. So that was a bit of a shame. But overall, it was nice to be able to spend Diwali with a couple of people,” the Ludhiana-born Sodhi said on the eve of the must-win Super 12 clash versus Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi.

“It has been really cool because a lot of our Kiwi guys have played in the IPL a lot. In the morning, early in the morning, the first thing they told me was, ‘Happy Diwali’. So that was pretty cool,” Sodhi added.

Variety in NZ attack

One of the key elements for New Zealand in this World Cup has been the variety in their attack, which has helped them to stay well placed in Group II despite the narrow defeat to Pakistan in their tournament opener.

It’s the presence of both left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner and Sodhi in the XI that has provided the New Zealand bowling attack, which is generally pace reliant, with the variety that assumes importance in T20 cricket.

“I think for a long time now, we’ve played two spinners in New Zealand too. It’s something that has worked reasonably well for us in those conditions,” Sodhi stated.

“Considering the fact that the wickets in New Zealand are pretty flat with the boundaries too really small, taking wickets is always very important. And I guess to have some variety in your bowling attack is always important there.

“Whereas over here, I think the conditions have been very different at all the grounds you can see. Sharjah has been quite low and slow and Dubai has had a bit more bounce. And in Abu Dhabi, I think, it’s overall a pretty good batting surface.

“Besides, variety in your attack is always nice to have. Thankfully, we’ve found a good balance so far and hopefully, we can show it on Sunday too when we play against Afghanistan,” Sodhi explained.

With seven wickets so far from four matches in this World Cup, Sodhi is New Zealand’s second-highest wicket-taker. Copping a blow on his head while bowling in the game versus Namibia on Friday, Sodhi has cleared all of his concussion tests and is available for Sunday’s game.