After being in India’s T20I squad for a month, being benched for both South Africa and the Ireland series, 23-year-old left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh finally made his India debut in the first T20I versus England in Southampton, which India won comprehensively by a big margin of 50 runs while defending 198.
Arshdeep cleaned up things at the end with wickets of tailenders Reece Topley and Matt Parkinson finishing with figures of 2/18 in 3.3 overs. But it was with the new ball that he impressed the most in Southampton.
Arshdeep Singh took two wickets on T20I debut
Everyone had known Arshdeep’s excellent death bowling prowess – in the IPL 2022, Arshdeep’s death overs economy of 7.58 was second only to Bumrah’s 7.38. Against England, though, he showed – for those who didn’t know – that he is as effective swinging the new ball as he is with his yorkers and slower variations in the death overs.
He shared the new ball with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and was on the money straightaway – bowling a maiden over to the destructive Jason Roy, troubling the English opener by moving the ball both ways.
It was a remarkable first over in international cricket from Arshdeep, followed by two wickets in the death, which got him huge praise from former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar.
Manjrekar took to Twitter to point out Arshdeep’s deep, varied and effective bowling skillset; he was impressed by the weapons the Punjab Kings seamer has in his arsenal.
“He can swing the new ball both ways, bowl the yorker well, has 3 versions of the slower ball plus can bowl a meaningful bouncer. Of all the new seam talent options, Arshdeep has the widest range,” Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted following India’s win in Southampton.
Here, check out Manjrekar’s tweet praising Arshdeep’s skillset:
He can swing the new ball both ways, bowl the yorker well, has 3 versions of the slower ball plus can bowl a meaningful bouncer. Of all the new seam talent options, Arshdeep has the widest range.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 7, 2022
Hardik Pandya bagged the Man of the Match award for his terrific all-round performance as he became the first Indian player to hit a fifty and take four wickets in the same T20I matches.
