By his own admission, Arshdeep Singh’s favourite pastime is to watch YouTube compilations of Wasim Akram and Zaheer Khan to learn about the nuances of yorker and reverse swing. Arshdeep has put those learnings to use quite frequently in T20Is, and it’s not for nothing that he became the first Indian bowler to take more than 100 wickets in that format.
But his spells against South Africa in the recent Ranchi and Raipur ODIs have underlined the need to give the left-arm pacer a consistent run in the 50-over version, something he has been deprived thus far. In isolation, his figures of 2 for 64 and 2 for 54 in those matches look modest. But they offer a different picture when placed alongside Proteas’ totals of 332 and 362 for six.
In both the games, Arshdeep had to bowl during SA’s chase under lights with a heavy dew setting in wintry conditions. he never let the batters dominate him in either of the matches, registering the best But economy among the pacers — 6.4 at Ranchi and 5.4 at Raipur. At Raipur, Harshit Rana gave away seven runs an over and Prasidh Krishna was carted around for 10.20.
It may be argued that Arshdeep largely bowled when the ball was relatively drier in the first Power Play and when the ball was changed after the 44th over in the second ODI. But even then to contain or dismiss batters like Quinton de Kock and Marco Jansen on a firm pitch, a bowler needs optimum tactical awareness and the ability to bowl to the set field.
“That is one area where he has improved a lot in recent times. He knows the conditions well, he then adjusts the lengths well and he has now learned the importance of mixing up his deliveries to avoid being predictable. “It is very important in white ball cricket in which batsmen keep looking for runs. He has really matured now as a bowler and is mentally tough,” tells Jaswant Rai, his childhood coach. (PTI)
