Spin twins: Sodhi, Astle to team up as Stead

It could become the most tightlycontested Black Caps selection of next year’s Cricket World Cup squad.

So how does new coach Gary Stead give legspinners Ish Sodhi and Todd Astle the best chance to push their respective cases? Play them in the same one-day international XI against Pakistan, of course.

Left-armer Mitchell Santner’s prolonged layoff after knee surgery opens the door for Sodhi and Astle to team up in a rarely seen New Zealand legspin duo in three ODIs on November 8, 10 and 12 (NZT) in spin-friendly United Arab Emirates.

Stead is a fan of the pair combining for the first time in their respective international careers, which for Sodhi is 63 matches across the formats and Astle just 11.

‘‘It could be three matches where both legspinners are playing and that could be exciting, where we can keep looking at attacking options through those middle stages of the innings and even at the death,’’ Stead told Stuff before the team flew out yesterday.

‘‘Even though they’re both legspinners they’re a bit different in how they go about their bowling. Ish comes from a different height than Toddy and probably gets a bit more bounce, and Toddy’s strengths come from his accuracy and ability to have the stumps in play the whole time.’’

If both prove effective against the Pakistan batsmen there could be the temptation to continue the partnership into the three tests,

Ish Sodhi, left, and Todd Astle are both likely to play in three one-day internationals against Pakistan early next month.