De Villiers has been ruled out of the series after suffering an elbow injury during his stint with the Barbados Tridents in the recently-concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL), while Morne Morkel, the paceman, has a bulging disc in his back.
New Zealand, currently ranked five in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test rankings have prepared for the South Africa Tests with a comprehensive 2-0 rout of Zimbabwe but Sodhi believes sixth-ranked South Africa will be a different challenge altogether. "[AB] is obviously an amazing player - one of the best, if not the best in the world in all formats - but you can never take a team like South Africa lightly," he said on Monday (August 15).
"They have got runs from the top order to even the lower order and they've got bowlers who can back them up in any conditions. Again, it's just how much we prepare in these three days of training and if we can put in the work, hopefully we can put up a good performance," the legspinner added.
Sodhi took eight wickets in the two Tests against Zimbabwe, but is likely to face competition from Mitchell Santner, the left-arm orthodox spinner, if New Zealand decide to go in with just one spinner on the seamer-friendly Kingsmead surface. He isn't unfazed by the situation though, confident that his team have the tools for any sort of surface. "Being able to adapt to different conditions has been a strength for us the last few years," Sodhi said.
"And I guess we will look to do the same when we see the wicket tomorrow. It could be low and slow or it could be a little bit zippy for the pace bowlers, but we've definitely got all of the players to take those conditions on," he added.
Sodhi had a slow start during the Test series against Zimbabwe, but reckoned that he found his rhythm during the second Test, where he finished with match figures of seven for 79. "I think I'm trying to keep it a lot more simple," Sodhi said.
"But also I think it's something to keep reinforcing. I know in the first test match I was a little bit nervous and didn't stick to those processes as well as I could," he added.
The two Tests against Zimbabwe were his first since November, 2014, and the legspinner felt he was slowly getting back to his stride in the longer formats of the game, fitness-wise. "I don't think I was fit enough to be able to bowl in the second innings when I first started playing cricket. I've still got a long way to go but I'm definitely getting a bit closer to that now," he signed off.
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