Aotearoa heads into the T20 World Cup with two frontline spinners that we're all pretty chuffed to have in Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi. One's a lefty tweaker who bats all good, the other is a ripping leggy who can slug a few at the end and both have deliveries in their quiver that move the ball either way. Let's not forget that these two were dominant in the last major T20 tournament back in 2016.

Just as Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson were Aotearoa's best batters in the last T20 World Cup, thus amplifying the importance of their runs in this tournament; Santner and Sodhi are back in spinning conditions to give the kiwis a crack at improving on their semi-final finish in 2016. Santner and Sodhi weren't the leading wicket-takers back in 2016 as Afghanistan's spinners Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan played two more games for their wickets, leaving these kiwis tied with England's David Wiley and Bangladesh spinner Shakib Al Hasan on 10 wickets.

Mitchell Santner: 18.1ov - 10w @ 11.40avg/6.27rpo/10.9sr.

Ish Sodhi: 19.4ov - 10w @ 12avg/6.10rpo/11.8sr.

Mitchell McClenaghan was the next best kiwi bowler with 4 wickets.

In theory, such tremendous kiwi spin antics would open these two up to a world of Indian Premier League juice. Khan for example has played 76 IPL games since that T20 World Cup, while Nabi has played 17 games (much less, but Nabi's popped up in every IPL since 2017) and Al Hasan has been a consistent IPL presence since 2011 for his 71 games overall.

Sodhi has played a total of 8 IPL games, while Santner has played 6. McClenaghan played 56 games for context and Aotearoa's best T20 bowlers probably have more compelling cases for IPL game time than Kyle Jamieson. Being part of an IPL squad would be pretty chill so none of this is bad, especially for Santner who is part of Stephen Fleming's Chennai team with the Indian version of Santner in Ravi Jadeja.

Santner's never going to play ahead of Jadeja in the IPL. Sodhi has been pretty good for Rajasthan in his small sample size but instead of playing for Rajasthan, Sodhi took up a gig as a helping hand for Rajasthan. Here we have Aotearoa's two best T20 bowlers, who are non-factors in the IPL after fantastic 2016 T20 World Cup campaigns in India ... now preparing for the T20 World Cup in United Arab Emirates.

Who was the best bowler in the Aotearoa vs Australia T20I series earlier this year? Ish Sodhi.

Ish Sodhi: 19ov - 13w @ 12.07avg/8.26rpo/8.7sr.

Mitchell Santner: 15.3ov - 6w @ 16.16avg/6.25rpo/15.5sr.

For most Blackcaps, the last few years have been fairly cosy. For these two spinners specifically, their last T20I game overseas was in 2019's tour of Sri Lanka. Since the start of 2018 Sodhi has played 41 T20I games and 35 have been in Aotearoa. Santner has played 34 games with 30 in Aotearoa. The only nations they have both bowled in are Sri Lanka and Australia, with Sodhi also playing three games in UAE; 1w @ 85avg.

In the five years since the last World Cup Santner has averaged 40+ in two years, below 20 in two years and 28 in the other. Sodhi averaged 30+ in two years, below 20 in two and 26 in the other.

All of which serves as reason to ponder what these two will do in the next few weeks. Many will be expecting a repeat of 2016, although one could make the case that neither has really kicked on since then. Many will easily remember the Australia games or beating up touring teams in Aotearoa, although T20 bowling in Aotearoa and UAE feels extremely different.

One thing in Santner and Sodhi's favour is the Blackcaps vibe under Kane Williamson. The plucky kiwis use their wits as a tool, adapting to conditions and reading situations quickly. Learn, adapt and execute. Santner and Sodhi will have all their plans for slight variations in pitch conditions, boosted by a wide range of deliveries to call upon.

Both should also be graced with consistent selection. They won't have space to build into the tournament as the first two opponents are Pakistan (who hate NZ) and India. Two nations with ample experience in UAE and ample experience in facing spin bowling. Santner and Sodhi will be key figures in these first two games, to the extent where I'm not expecting to see Glenn Phillips bowl or Mark Chapman/Todd Astle playing. The next two games will be against qualifiers and that's when the depth will be used.

There is plenty of Blackcaps T20 World Cup yarns to be enjoyed...

Kyle Jamieson vs Lockie Ferguson.

Martin Guptill & Kane Williamson.

Jimmy Neesham's efficiency.

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Peace and love.