Reetinder Sodhi

[Arjun]

Former Indian selector Raj Singh Dungarpur identified Reetinder Sodhi as a crucial player in the future. He said, while most Indian fielders wait for the ball to come to them, he gets forward to pick up the ball. He may be overboard saying that the Indian team may win a World Cup with 11 Sodhis, but he may be right.

Without a doubt, Sodhi has the best reflexes on the field, among all Indian players. He is very athletic, runs hard, picks up the ball quickly and even throws accurately. He is a good runner between wickets and quite fast. All of this makes a player like him very effective in ODI's.

His statistics are not very impressive, though. He has not even picked up 10 wickets and has a very high ODI average and strike rate. Perhaps his lack of muscle may be the reason, but he bowls too many 4-balls. Line and length will be important. As for his batting, he tries to slog once too often. Shot selection will have to improve. He has performed reasonably well in FC matches and he has the talent, but application counts. A senior player or ex-player should work with him, to fine-tune his skills.

There may be no need for an immediate national team recall, but he should definitely be in the selectors' plans.

 

[a massive zebra]

http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/IND/S/SODHI_RS_06007128/

 

[iamdavid]

He clearly has some ability , but my impressions of him were that he was handy with both bat & ball , but not really of international standard with either.

His feilding was great , no questioning that.
I reckon his bowling could be a handful on greenish pitches (however rare they may be these days).
However Mike Atherton once said that to succeed consistently at the top level , a bowler must have two of the three defining qualities , pace , control & movement.
Now Sodhi IMO has neither of the 3 , he's about Damien Martyn's pace , his control is poor & he wont swing it unless he gets a greentop.
Also seemed to tire very quickly & get even more wayward as his spells went on.

With the bat he seems to have a very good eye & some nice shots when he wants , but he really dosent have the technique or patience for international level , will be a handy number 7 or 8 , but nothing more.

He's been touted as the next Robin Singh but Im not really convinced , he needs to decide whether he wants to be a batsman who bowls or a bowler who bats & really work hard at his chosen dicipline , coz atm he's just a bits & peices player & really dosent warrant a mention as far as international honours are concerned.

 

[V Reddy]

He is not of international standard. He is much inferior to Robin in both batting and bowling .

 

[masterblaster]

Agreed Vishnu. He was given plenty of opportunities. His bowling is not international class. His batting and fielding are okay.

But with guys like Yuvraj, Kaif, Badani, Gavaskar and Powar, Sodhi will find it impossible to break into this ODI side.

 

[Lions81]

Arjun, the key to your article is the words "Former Indian selector". When he selected for Indian teams, judging from the teams he put out, he must have thought he was picking teams to lose. Sodhi is not all that good, I remember him from the ODI series versus Zimbabwe. Nothing special.

 

[Arjun]

Arjun, the key to your article is the words "Former Indian selector". When he selected for Indian teams, judging from the teams he put out, he must have thought he was picking teams to lose.

Agreed, Raj Singh may not have too many fans, especially becuse of some anti-Ganguly comments, but sometimes, he talks sense. He identified Yuvraj as a future player and said that Robin Singh will make a good coach for the juniors and Nayan Mongia deserves a fair try (this after complaining about 'Mongia-culture' in the team), but it's just that North Zone bias in his comments.

he's about Damien Martyn's pace

One reason. Lack of muscle. He shouldn't try to be a Shoaib Akhtar. Just stick to the basics.

his control is poor

All it takes is application.

he wont swing it unless he gets a greentop

To be honest, spin is the Indian team's main bowling strength, so two spinners are definitely needed, so unless they also play 3 seamers, players like Reetinder Sodhi and a certain JP Yadav (the strongest player picked recently, and a real bodybuilder, and also India's best batting all-rounder but not given a fair try) will come useful.

Also seemed to tire very quickly & get even more wayward as his spells went on.

He is not a strike bowler and should not be used as one, but just as a stock bowler who's a batsman first. like Sehwag.

With the bat he seems to have a very good eye & some nice shots when he wants , but he really dosent have the technique or patience for international level , will be a handy number 7 or 8 , but nothing more.

He needs more muscle, to get his shots to go further from catchers' hands. As mentioned earlier, he needs to improve his choice of shots. If he sticks to correct cricket shots and not weird baseball slogs, he will score almost twice as many runs as he had till he was dropped. He is best in the middle order, so if he improves, the best position should be 4/5/6.

He's been touted as the next Robin Singh but Im not really convinced

Robin Singh was not a great player, but he could get the job done well.

he needs to decide whether he wants to be a batsman who bowls or a bowler who bats & really work hard at his chosen dicipline , coz atm he's just a bits & peices player & really dosent warrant a mention as far as international honours are concerned.

The best choice for him is as a batsman first. He is more useful there. His bowling does not have to be of strike quality, but enough to support the 4 main bowlers. As I said, there is no need for an immediate recall.

 

[iamdavid]

I think you place a little to much importance on muscle.

Sure with the ball he's never gonna be very quick because he's not awfully tall & built like a match stick , but he could still be a handy bowler if he did the work & really applied himself.

And with the bat I think he's already got all the power he needs , just that his technique is really not up to it at the top level.

 

[Arjun]

I think you place a little to much importance on muscle.

There's a reason why. Sodhi's reed-thin. But he does not have to be a bodybuilder like a Hollywood action hero. One needs to just think about the West Indian fast bowlers of today. A little muscle does help, along with timing (for batting) and accuracy (bowling).