IND vs SA: If there were any doubts whether Arshdeep Singh would be a starter in the eleven at the T20 World Cup, the 23-year-old youngster from Indore banished those by putting up a performance to remember. Rather, an over to remember.
Seldom you can say in T20 cricket that the game had effectively been decided in just two overs! But this was the case in the first India-South Africa T20I in Thiruvananthapuram. Barely anyone really knew what the pitch and conditions are going to be like; the last international game here was back in 2019 when West Indies chased down 171 with 9 balls to spare.
But, 2 overs in the first match of the IND vs SA T20I series, and the conditions had had their say. Such a strong say that the Indian medium pacers had the Protea batters wiping at mostly air or taking their edges.
5 wickets summed up in 11 seconds. Watch it here 👇👇
Don’t miss the LIVE coverage of the #INDvSA match on @StarSportsIndia pic.twitter.com/jYeogZoqfD— BCCI (@BCCI) September 28, 2022
The returning Temba Bavuma was undone by a traditional outswing-outswing-inswing set up by the returning Deepak Chahar, the ball, swinging seaming in, going through the Protea skipper’s gate. The tone was set by Deepak Chahar – who is also laying a strong claim to Bhuvneshwar’s place in the side given he adds batting depth – for Arshdeep to pounce on it.
While many have learned Arshdeep Singh in recent months to be an accurate and shrewd death overs bowler, the left-arm pacer also is an excellent exponent of moving the new ball – both ways – which he showed duly in the helpful conditions of Thiruvananthapuram.
On his first ball, Arshdeep Singh went full, the delivery not moving a great deal as Quinton de Kock pushed at it. Second ball, he got no-feet Quinton de Kock chopping on with a length delivery that swung away considerably; for the visitors, this mode of dismissal has been frequent with Quinton de kock in the past year or so.
Aiden Markram, perhaps the best of the South African batters, didn’t shy away from playing his shots and laced into a couple of cover drives, the second one with power and got a boundary for his audaciousness of playing amid the significant movement of the ball. This fazed Arshdeep, who bowled two wides while targeting Markram’s pads but moved the ball too much down the leg.
Then came the double blow from Arshdeep Singh. Similar to de Kock, Rilee Rossouw didn’t move his feet much and drove at the full, awayswinging delivery – which, to the bowler’s credit, was quite a carrot-dangler given Rossouw’s reputation as a T20 monster – and edged it to Rishabh Pant.
On the next delivery, Arshdeep Singh stunned everyone with David Miller’s wicket. Bowled. Not a chop on, or a bad shot playing all across the line. But a piece of intelligence and artistry from the youngster.
Having watched QDK and Rossouw fall to the outswinging balls, Miller, or anyone in the world, would have been forgiven to think that the seamer will push another one full and away. Instead, Arshdeep went in this time. Miller, who had not too long ago helped Gujarat Titans clinch the IPL trophy with perhaps his best IPL season, was left bamboozled; undone; unthought.
One of the sexiest stuff about watching new-ball spells in helpful conditions is the ball swinging substantially, getting the viewer excited while the batter prays for his life, to somehow survive the over or spell. You can watch the video of Miller’s wicket and you’d be amazed everytime with the late swing that the ball from Arshdeep Singh got right before pitching and crashing into the middle stump.
“In the first over DC bhai (Deepak Chahar) set the tone and we knew there was plenty of help from the surface. The plan was to keep it simple and bowl in the right areas. I enjoyed Miller’s wicket as I thought he was expecting an outswinger but I bowled an inswinger instead,” Arshdeep Singh said to Star Sports at the post-match presentation.
