Arshdeep key as India hope to transfer T20I triumph to 50 over matches

Mumbai: Jasprit Bumrah's absence from Team India often shines a spotlight on the other pacers, who struggle to match his brilliance. His presence allows the team to thrive off his skill, but with him out of the Champions Trophy, the dynamic has shifted. Opposing teams, who may have previously played cautiously, will now be emboldened to take on the new ball aggressively.

It is this scenario that Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Harshit Rana and Hardik Pandya will have to tackle over and over again. And how they fare will have a huge bearing on the results.

In the Indian team’s pace attack for the Champions Trophy, Arshdeep is the only one to have been a regular in white-ball cricket. Mohammed Shami is coming back from a long injury layoff while Harshit Rana has played a total of four games (three ODIs and one T20I). His experience will matter, especially in pressure situations.

For those who have tracked the 26-year-old left-arm seamer’s career, it is no surprise that he is already India’s highest wicket-taker in T20I cricket. He was also named as the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year 2024 after claiming 36 wickets in 18 matches during the period.

The Punjab bowler’s graph has been steadily rising but his next challenge is to translate his T20 success into the 50-over format and that’s something captain Rohit Sharma will be particularly banking on.

Irfan Pathan, who took 173 wickets in 120 ODIs for India, has no doubt of Arshdeep’s ability to strike with the new ball but he is keen to watch how the pacer adapts to the challenge of bowling with the older ball.

“The challenge will be there (to adapt to the ODI format), with the new ball I don’t have any doubt that he will be able to replicate what he has done in the T20 format,” said Pathan. “His learning will be in how he deals with the older ball in one-day cricket.

“But Arshdeep looks like a great learner, he has a great attitude, the game is all about how you take your performances to the next level. But how many bowlers from the world have achieved 100 international wickets? That confidence Arshdeep will have... he has got a good yorker, he can definitely adapt.”

The limited overs format is not for one-dimensional bowlers. You get targeted if you depend on sheer pace and will get smashed if you rely too much on swing. A combination of skills is the need of the hour to keep the batter in check. Arshdeep possesses that.

He generates movement by pitching the ball up, can bowl the hard length, possesses a sharp bouncer and can nail the yorker. It helps him be effective in tough situations.

One could see his potential immediately on his IPL debut when he picked none other than Jos Buttler, the current England ODI team captain, as his first wicket in 2019. He sure has lived up to the early promise. Currently on 99 wickets, he is India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is.

His success has got the Indian think-tank excited also because left-arm pacers are prized commodity in any bowling attack and Arshdeep’s attitude of taking responsibility stands out for him.

“He likes to take wickets with the new ball. Every time I see him bowl, I feel very happy as a fast bowler because he doesn’t think that if Jasprit Bumrah is bowling at the other end, then Bumrah will pick the wickets and I will get through. He thinks like an attacking bowler,” said Pathan.

Pathan had a similarly strong start to his career. In his first three years (from 2004 to 2007) in international cricket, Pathan took 200 wickets (104 in ODIs plus 90 in Tests in the period). Most of the wickets had come with the new ball where he looked to pitch the ball up. In that sense, Arshdeep also has that capability to deliver early blows with the new ball.

Being a specialist bowler finding a place in the playing XI is a challenge because the India team prefers bowlers who can bat, but if judged purely on bowling skills, he is ahead of the competition. In the only ODI he played in the just concluded three-match series against England, Arshdeep showed his quality with the new ball by prising out both openers, Phil Salt and Ben Duckett, with his variations when they were going great guns.

“He is a pure wicket-taker who can swing the ball both ways, being a left-armer it gives him an added advantage,” says Pathan.

Important career move

Arshdeep is now playing as the spearhead of the Indian pace attack in T20Is and is expected to take over the mantle from the senior bowlers in the ODIs as well. For such a career graph, it means right decisions have been made. One of the individuals he needs to thank is Bhupinder Singh Sr, a former India pacer and selector, who helped put him on the right track early.

“When Arshdeep was around 14, I saw him playing in Chandigarh for an association affiliated to Haryana Cricket Association. I suggested to his father (Darshan Singh), who has played with me in Khalsa College, Amritsar, that he has bright future, put him in Punjab Cricket Association, which has a better cricket system.

“He was 14-15 at that time. He was very promising from the very beginning and very soon in PCA’s talent hunt scheme. He deservingly kept getting the opportunities at the right time. His graph itself shows wherever he is playing. He is gradually improving, performing and becoming an asset for the team,” said Bhupinder, who had an opportunity to check on the bowler’s progress during a chance meeting last month.

After playing a starring role in the 2024 T20 World Cup title win for India, Arshdeep has now set his eyes on making his mark in the 50-over format at the upcoming Champions Trophy. If he can repeat his heroics of the T20 World Cup, he will add further credence to his status as a future star.

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