Arshdeep Singh repays India's faith handsomely with another nerveless display

2nd November, 2022, Adelaide Oval, India and Bangladesh are engrossed in a see-saw encounter when Arshdeep Singh is called upon to bowl the 12th over. Just an over ago, R Ashwin has been carted for 11 runs. The Tigers, despite losing Litton Das shortly after the rain break, seem to be generating momentum and 52 runs in the final five overs seems a very gettable target.

The pressure is on Arshdeep. This game, by the way, could also decide who takes a giant leap towards qualification. Both India and Bangladesh are deadlocked on four points and a misstep at this juncture could prove catastrophic.

For the first time in a while, there is a hush at the Adelaide Oval. For almost the entirety of the contest, both sets of fans have cheered their lungs out, and have barely been able to talk to the person next to each other. Now, there is suddenly a sense of anticipation and tension. It is exciting, make no mistake about it. But it is also excruciating and nerve-wrecking.

If those in the stands are feeling those range of emotions, imagine what Arshdeep is going through. Before July, he had never played a T20I. Here he was, looking to fill the huge hole Jasprit Bumrah’s absence has left. Irrespective of how the left-arm pacer fares, social media will make it a point to draw comparisons. It is unnecessary but you know how social media is.

Arshdeep Singh bowled a game-changing 12th over

The first ball the pacer bowls is on a length just outside off stump. It seems to be right in Afif Hossain’s hitting arc, until it isn’t. He tries to smash the cover off the ball and is caught at long on. A few balls later, Arshdeep dangles the carrot again – this time, outwitting Shakib Al Hasan. The ball comes down with rain on it, but as soon as Deepak Hooda holds onto the catch at deep mid-wicket, millions of Indians celebrate.

If you thought that would be it for Arshdeep, well, you’d be mistaken. The left-arm seamer was called in to bowl the last over too. Bangladesh had fallen behind by then but that over still needed to be delivered. A six and a four made things interesting but when push came to shove, he backed his yorker. And more crucially, nailed them.

That, apart from sending thousands of Indian fans at the venue into delirium, was also symbolic of how India have treated Arshdeep. There were occasions where they could have dropped him, possibly selecting Harshal Patel because of the batting depth he adds. But they didn’t. They stuck by him, and he, by sticking to his strengths, repaid that faith.

It could have been very easy for him to try something different, just to keep the batter guessing. In these situations, though, simplicity is often genius, and that is what he did. That is also largely why India have backed him so much.

There is raw excitement about unknown quantities, about people who have quirky actions or have slower deliveries that dip late and make the batters look like amateurs. Arshdeep doesn’t do all of that. He just holds his nerve when it matters most, and does so by keeping things simple, which when things complicated, is not easy.

Thus, an Indian T20I side sans Arshdeep seems almost unimaginable right now. It took time to get here. When he dropped that catch against Pakistan, and was wrongly targeted on social media, he might have felt overwhelmed. A few expensive displays thereafter meant that his place in India’s first-choice eleven, especially before the game against Pakistan, was not set in stone either.

Since then, though, he has played every minute of India’s T20 World Cup campaign, and has owned it like he was always meant to. The match against Pakistan illustrated how penetrative he could be with the new ball. He then jolted South Africa early in their run-chase and ensured that they were always chasing the game until very late in their innings.

But his crowning glory has to be his nerveless display against Bangladesh. If you just look at his raw numbers, it will read 38 runs conceded in four overs, and only two wickets taken. Cast a closer look, however, and you will find that those wickets came in the 12th over, just after Ashwin had shipped 11 runs in the previous over. And Afif and Shakib were still at the crease.

Arshdeep has developed a habit of standing up in the moments that really matter. What is more heartening is that he seems to want those moments just as dearly. There is no shirking of responsibility. No thought of how much criticism he will receive if things go awry. And most certainly, there is no perception that he does not belong at this level.

We might never get to know why Rohit Sharma picked Arshdeep to bowl the final over ahead of stalwarts such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami. What it did tell us, though, was that he had enough faith and trust in Arshdeep to get the job done.

To be fair to India, that faith and trust has been present ever since he donned the blue for the first time against England in July. Now, they are just reaping the rewards. And Arshdeep is proving why they were right all along.