After the first game of the series was washed out after only two balls were bowled on Friday morning (NZ time), the Black Caps were humbled in game two.
Batting first after losing the toss, New Zealand were dismissed for just 90 runs, with no single batter scoring more than Mark Chapman’s 19.
Kane Williamson leads the nine-strong contingent of absentees playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), alongside Trent Boult, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra and Mitchell Santner.
Meanwhile, Tom Latham is absent for the birth of his child, Will Young is playing English county cricket, and test captain Tim Southee has opted out of the tour to manage his workload.
Finn Allen and Adam Milne were initially selected, but have since withdrawn through injury, while Kyle Jamieson was ruled out earlier in the summer with a stress fracture in his back.
Colin Munro was approached to make his return to the international fold, but turned it down to take the total of missing players to 16 - more than an entire squad for a World Cup event.
Instead, this squad is made up of younger players, who have previously excelled in New Zealand domestic cricket, even if they’re yet to translate that to the international arena.
Tim Robinson, Will O’Rourke and Zak Foulkes are new faces to the T20 squad, while Josh Clarkson, Dean Foxcroft and Cole McConchie have played 10 matches or fewer.
With his 113 T20s played, legspinner Sodhi is comfortably the most experienced member of the side.
And fronting media after the seven-wicket defeat, chose to see the silver lining of the young Black Caps outfit’s baptism by fire in Rawalpindi.
“Any experience for these young guys is a positive experience,” said Sodhi.
“Some of them haven’t played cricket in Asia at all. So the chance to come here and be tested against the best [is a positive].
Pakistan's Shadab Khan celebrates the wicket of Jimmy Neesham. Photo / AP
“Sure, we didn’t get the result today or get the runs that we wanted today . But the learning they can take from that to become better players in the future is brilliant, I think.
“We’re really fortunate that we get to play some of our players, to increase our depth, with some of our great players at the IPL.
“That’s a real positive thing.”
Black Caps sides being weakened by absent players is nothing new.
Since 2021, New Zealand has been unable to field its strongest sides from April onwards - notably the end of the Kiwi summer - due to IPL commitments.
It’s the reality of modern-day cricket that players from New Zealand, and nations outside of Australia, England and India are forced to choose club over country, given the riches on offer from the franchise game.
However, due to political tensions with India, Pakistan are exempt from that.
Since the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, Pakistani players have been unable to feature in the IPL.
And while it has restricted them at franchise level, for this series at least, Pakistan have been able to field a full-strength outfit.
But while Sodhi didn’t apologise for his missing teammates, despite being prompted to by Pakistan’s cricket media, he instead backed the young core of new Black Caps to come right over the rest of the series.
“Unfortunately, some of our top players are playing in the IPL, which is a really prestigious tournament,” he continued.
“They’ve been there for a long time. Unfortunately, they’re not on show.
“But for us, it’s a great chance to see some of our young guys. I’d be interested if they went out there and scored a lot of runs in the next game. Hopefully, we can put on a good show for the fans out there.
“It’s certainly not through a lack of trying. There’s [some] very talented young boys in this team.
“They work really hard. Unfortunately, we didn’t get over the line today, but over the next three or four games, you’ll see glimpses of some high quality players. They are the future of New Zealand cricket.”
Sodhi and the Black Caps have the chance to respond as early as Monday morning, when game three of the five-match series is played in Rawalpindi.
Alex Powell is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.
