Arshdeep Singh goes from shadows to substance with wicket-taking feast, takes India on a swinging joyride
Arshdeep Singh has finally arrived in ODIs, but can he sustain it?
One of the great cliches in cricket is that one often brings two (wickets). Only, in Arshdeep Singh’s case, one brought five.
Until Sunday (December 17), the left-arm fast-medium bowler had gone wicketless in three One-Day Internationals (admittedly, he didn’t bowl in one of them), all in New Zealand in November last year. A ‘shadow’ team had travelled to the land of the Kiwi after India’s semi-final exit from the T20 World Cup in Australia, and with Arshdeep not doing anything of note (13.1-1-89-0 combined in his two efforts), he was culled from the 50-over scheme of things as the focus shifted to the home World Cup.
It's with another ‘shadow’ team that the 24-year-old has now announced himself. The big boys have all been rested from the three-match series in South Africa, their preparations centered around the two-Test series starting next Tuesday. Along with Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar, Arshdeep therefore was presented with another opportunity to show what he is made of. Did he grab that opportunity with glee!
Arshdeep is no stranger to international cricket – he has played 42 T20Is, taken 59 wickets – but as India start building, tentatively at this early stage, for the next 50-over World Cup in 2027, it was imperative for him to keep himself in the mix. By his own admission, the lack of ODI wickets had been playing on his mind going into Sunday’s encounter at the Wanderers; Arshdeep admitted to being nervous, but there was no outward show of panic, or even tension, as he went about his business like a seasoned campaigner.
On the same surface where India had crushed the hosts by 106 runs in the final T20I on Thursday, it was understandably expected that spin would play a significant role. As it turned out, India needed only 15 deliveries of spin, from Kuldeep Yadav. It was the pacers who did all the running, Arshdeep beginning the carnage and Avesh following suit with best ODI figures of his own to consign South Africa to their lowest ODI total, 116, on home patch.
Contrary to the past when the white Kookaburra used to swing for at least the first half-dozen overs, bowlers find little joy in the air these days. But at the Bullring, there was not inconsiderable lateral movement. Arshdeep exploited the seam to a telling advantage, producing one beauty after another to leave the Proteas shell-shocked.
Amidst the assistance from the track, what stood out was the intelligence with which Arshdeep went about his business. The temptation to merely land the ball on a spot and allow the pitch to play its part might have been immense – some might say that would have been the most prudent course of action – but by refusing to be predictable, he kept the batters guessing. His mixing up of lengths was inspired. There were short deliveries that climbed to a good height outside off, forcing batters to fetch the ball if they desired to play the pull; there was the odd full ball in the quest for swing, a smidgin of which he managed to trap Rassie van der Dussen in front. And, of course, there was the stock good-length ball, on or around the six-metre mark from the stumps that caused indecision and triggered carnage.
It’s been an interesting last month or so for the sorted young man, who redeemed a horror home T20I series against Australia by expertly defending ten runs in the final over of the final game in Bengaluru a fortnight back. On that occasion, he bowled a variety of full-tosses, one of which even brought him a wicket, eventually. “I thought I’d be the culprit today,” he chuckled after the match, “but I am thankful god gave me a chance to bounce back.” His own skill and composure too, he might well have added.
There was a time in the second half of the 2000s when India had left-arm quicks galore – the peerless Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh – but since then, there has been a concerted but largely fruitless search for a worthy successor. Several players have been tried and discarded, among them Jaydev Unadkat, Barinder Sran, Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan. Arshdeep holds the promise that he won’t ride gently away into the sunset. One swallow does not a summer make, of course, but for his own confidence more than anything else, he needed this five for 37 from 10 overs. Arshdeep needs no reminding that this is but the start, that he needs to embrace consistency rather than produce the occasional spark of brilliance to remain relevant. It will be interesting to see how he responds to that challenge.
