Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir feels that Arshdeep Singh needs to sort out the issue of bowling no-balls as soon as possible. Arshdeep’s tale of no-balls became a major concern for the Indian cricket team of late. It has continued in the T20I series between India and New Zealand. The young pacer from Punjab has come under the scanner of criticism as he bowled a barrage of no-balls in the last 6 T20I matches, which cost the team badly against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Earlier this month, Arshdeep had conceded 5 no-balls against Sri Lanka in the 2nd T20I at Pune, which was the most conceded by an Indian bowler. In the 1st T20I against New Zealand, Arshdeep conceded 27 runs in his last over, including a no-ball. Yes, Arshdeep, who was given the responsibility to bowl the final over of the New Zealand innings in the 1st T20I match, kickstarted the over with a front foot no ball which was hammered for a six by Daryl Mitchell. The young Indian pacer ended up leaking 27 runs in the final over as New Zealand managed to post a total of 176/6 in 20 overs at Ranchi.
Not impressed with the performance of Arshdeep Singh, Gautam Gambhir stated that bowling no balls is ‘absolutely unacceptable’ in international cricket. He said: “I think. these numbers are fine, It can go south and it can go north. But the most important thing is you can’t afford to bowUml those no-balls. That is absolutely unacceptable, especially at this level, and it can come back to hurt you and the team big time,”
He added: “And that is exactly what happened in the previous game. Just keep the basics right. See, World Cup conditions are completely different from what you normally get back home. In Australia, it was swinging and it was still bouncing, decent carry as well with the new ball. But when you play at the sub-continent, these are flat wickets,”
Gambhir also said that Arshdeep doesn’t have the lethal pace in his repertoire which can unnerve premier batters. Giving examples of Umran Malik and Mohammed Siraj, Gambhir urged Arshdeep to develop variations in his bowling. He said:
“You gonna have something different up your sleeves whether it’s a slower one or a slower bouncer. Some kind of variation. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the speed to actually rattle the batsmen. So he’s got to develop some variation. He is not Umran Malik, he’s not Mohammed Siraj. So one thing he needs to do is probably try and keep it very simple and sort his no balls out which is equally important,” Gambhir added.
