The Indian Cricket team is one of the most triumphant teams in world cricket with their batting factory producing star batsmen for fun. The batting department of the Indian cricket team is so mighty that they have three players in the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli included in the top 10 list of most profillic run-scorers across all formats in world cricket history.
The same cannot be said about India’s bowling over the years as they have lacked in producing genuine pace bowlers. However in the past few years, India has seen enormous amounts of bowling talent, rising from all parts of the country. One of those bowlers is the Pride of Punjab, left-arm medium fast bowler Arshdeep Singh. Singh from a very young age was a huge fan of the gentleman’s game and wanted to represent his nation on the biggest stage.
At the age of 16, Arshdeep joined Former Himachal Pradesh Ranji Trophy cricketer and notable coach Jaswant Rai’s cricket academy in Chandigarh in 2015. After a few years of impressive performances on the field, Arshdeep finally got his exposure as he was named in India’s squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, immediately followed by a List A debut playing for Punjab in the 2018–19 season of Vijay Hazare Trophy. In December of the same year, Singh came under the radar of selectors in the IPL and he was subsequently picked up by Kings XI Punjab for the 2019 season of the IPL. Arshdeep passed the test with flying colors as he finished the tournament as the second-highest wicket-taker, stunning everyone with his late over yorkers.
He also made his first-class debut in December of 2019 playing for Punjab in the 2019–20 Ranji Trophy. In June of 2021, the dream of young Arshdeep Singh finally came to fruition as he was named a net bowler for India’s tour of Sri Lanka but due to a Covid spree among the squad, most pacers were ruled out and Arshdeep was called up to the main squad.
After not making the World Cup squad and continued performance in the domestic sector, The selection committee recalled Arshdeep after a terrible T20 World Cup campaign in the UAE in 2021. However he did not make his international debut until 7th of July 2022 as India played England in a bilateral T20i series away from home. Arshdeep gave a reasonable performance in his National debut as he took 2 wickets conceding only 18 runs in 3.3 overs, also claiming the final wicket of the match which India won by 50 runs.
After a successful debut, Arshdeep was immediately tried in a series against West Indies, where he officially announced his arrival to the big stage taking seven wickets in five matches with an average of 16.14 and claiming the player of the series award. He was named as India’s third pacer for the Asia Cup in August after ace pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were ruled out due to injury. Arshdeep had a very forgettable tournament as he was the center point of a lot of criticism, especially after an extremely important drop catch in a do-or-die match against arch-rivals Pakistan. However, the selection committee still put their faith in Arshdeep’s abilities as they named him in the 15 men’s squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Expectations from Arshdeep are at an all-time high as many fans and pundits believe Arshdeep might be India’s trump card and the backbone of their pace bowling attack in the upcoming event after the unfortunate news of Bumrah being declared unfit to play.
India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their World Cup opener on the 23rd of this month in the remarkable MCG of Melbourne.