"When he bowls at the death, he keeps Dhoni, Hardik Pandya quiet" - Irfan Pathan wants Arshdeep Singh to play all T20Is vs South Africa

Irfan Pathan feels Team India should field Arshdeep Singh in their playing XI in all five games of the upcoming T20I series against South Africa because of the death-bowling skills he brings to the table.

Arshdeep was picked in the 18-member Indian squad for the T20I series, beginning June 9, based on his excellent performances for the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL 2022. Although the 23-year-old scalped only 10 wickets in 14 matches, he was quite economical, considering that he was predominantly used at the death.

During a discussion on the Star Sports show Game Plan, Irfan Pathan lauded Singh's exceptional death bowling in IPL 2022, elaborating:

"If you see the IPL numbers in terms of the wickets, the matches are more and the wickets are less, still the selectors backed him and picked him in the squad. There is a reason for that, he keeps the best batters quiet, when he bowls at the death, he keeps Dhoni, Hardik Pandya quiet, bowls consistent yorkers against the set batters."

The former India left-arm pacer wants Arshdeep to be given an extended run in the T20I series against the Proteas. Pathan reasoned:

"You picked a left-arm bowler in your squad based on some thinking, because left is always right. So play him all the matches and he is a bowler who raises his hand for his team whenever there is a difficult situation, that he will bowl the yorkers and try to pick up wickets."

Arshdeep Singh is among five Indian pacers picked for the T20 series against the Proteas. It will be interesting to see how many games he gets, although being the only left-arm quick in the squad might work to his advantage.

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"The good thing with Arshdeep Singh is that he knows his game" - Ravi Shastri

Arshdeep Singh dismissed Dinesh Karthik with a wide yorker in IPL 2022 [P/C: iplt20.com]

During the same discussion, Ravi Shastri also praised Arshdeep's game awareness in the death overs, saying:

"The good thing with Arshdeep Singh is that he knows his game, he knows what he has to do in those slog overs and that's one of the reasons he has made it to the team because India are looking for death bowlers."

The former India head coach reckons the selectors want to see if the left-arm pacer can be Bhuvneshwar Kumar's backup in India's T20I side. Shastri observed:

"There is Bhuvneshwar Kumar but if he gets injured, who is there? So they want to identify someone early, so very good move to get him in to see how he does at the death at the international level."

Shastri also pointed out that the likes of Arshdeep and Umran Malik don't need to do anything differently during the T20I series against South Africa. He added that they just need to get better at what they have been doing.