Till the start of the Duleep Trophy, Arshdeep Singh had played only 16 first-class matches since his debut in December 2019.
While the left-arm pacer has established himself as a regular in India’s limited-overs squad, he hasn’t played consistently for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy. The common notion was that he didn’t wish to work hard and was content with short incisive spells in T20Is and ODIs.
The BCCI’s directive making it mandatory for all contracted players to participate in red-ball cricket has forced a change in such a mindset.
The results have been spontaneous. Arshdeep finished with nine wickets, including a career-best 6/40 in the second innings, to lead India D to victory against India B in the Duleep Trophy on Sunday.
On an unresponsive pitch in Anantapur, he showed glimpses of his red-ball craft, extracting pace and bounce against the likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Suryakumar Yadav and Washington Sundar. The subtle changes in length and display of variation left the batters perplexed.
Former head coach Ravi Shastri had harped on Arshdeep’s relevance after India’s defeat in the first Test in Centurion last year. His inspirational show is sure to make heads turn ahead of the five-Test tour Down Under.
The national selectors had preferred Yash Dayal over Arshdeep for the Bangladesh series, but his giant strides will force them to take notice. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if Arshdeep earns his maiden Test call-up in the New Zealand series next month.
The way he used the angles in the Duleep matches, slanting it across the batter while slipping in the odd cutter and yorker, has forced the selectors to think differently. The left-armer showed that he has the ability to be incisive and disciplined, traits which made him a regular in T20Is, with the red ball too.
Arshdeep is more experienced than Dayal and had a feel of the Australian conditions during the T20 World Cup two years ago. The pacer was India’s most successful bowler on that tour with 10 wickets in six games at a strike rate of 12.
There is the belief that Arshdeep can be the perfect foil to Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep and Mohammed Shami, fitness permitting, on the green and bouncy surfaces in Perth and Brisbane.
Given that Australia’s top-order is filled with righthanders, Arshdeep will have the inherent advantage of sowing doubts in the minds of the batters. Tackling him will require sound technique and adjustments in stance and Australia’s unsettled line-up could find the going tough.
It was important for him to bury the myth that he was interested only in white-ball cricket. The Anantapur performance will go a long way in projecting him as an all-format fast bowler.
Dayal will be considered for selection in the Kanpur Test against Bangladesh to pave the way for Bumrah or Siraj to rest, as part of managing their workload.
Unless Dayal comes up with an extraordinary show of skill, the selectors will give Arshdeep a run. How he responds to the challenge will decide his fate.
