Till Virat Kohli destroyed Pakistan with an innings of character and poise at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday night, Arshdeep Singh had been the star performer for India with a controlled spell of swing bowling that rocked the opponents’ top-order.

The 23-year-old youngster made a dream debut in World Cups at the senior level removing Babar Azam with his very first delivery. It didn’t end there for Arshdeep. He finished with 3 for 32, Mohammad Rizwan and Asif Ali failing prey to well-directed short balls.

“I just wanted to enjoy the moment. I guess it’ll never come again, so I just wanted to enjoy myself and have fun,” a visibly satisfied Arshdeep told the official broadcasters at the break.

It has been a superb turnaround for someone who had been trolled mercilessly on social media for dropping a catch against the same opponents in the Asia Cup a little over month ago. But he showed immense guts and temperament to bounce back from such a torrid phase so early in his career.

“The team atmosphere is so good that we don’t let the outside noise get in. We enjoy each other’s company, stand for each other in bad times. It really helps,” Arshdeep said at the mixed zone after India pulled off a thrilling four-wicket win.

Arshdeep is not dwelling much on the challenges of such high-pressure games.“There is nothing called a challenge if you enjoy your game. We are enjoying our cricket, and as I said the team environment is really good. We very much love our game and when that happens you enjoy the sport and there’s no challenge.”

Arshdeep’s performance has left Anil Kumble, who worked with him for three seasons at Punjab Kings. happy.“He’s a young lad — only 21-22— and in the last three years, what I’ve seen is he’s transformed into a very mature bowler,” Kumble was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“And he can handle the pressure; his temperament is brilliant, we saw that. Even when that catch was put down in the Asia Cup, he came back and bowled really well.”