Arshdeep blows in belief and life at death

PTI

Bengaluru, December 4

After going for 37 runs in his first three wayward overs on a languid Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch, Arshdeep Singh’s night was seemingly doomed.

But then, the left-arm pacer found a chance to redeem himself in the dying moments of the fifth T20I against Australia to seal a 4-1 series win.

Arshdeep grabbed it with both hands, defending nine runs in the final over to give India a six-run win, nailing bouncers and yorkers that he looked so incapable of bowling during that horror start.

So, what was going through his mind when captain Suryakumar Yadav gave him the ball ahead of the 20th over.

“I did not feel that it was bowling-friendly conditions as I bowled a lot of loose deliveries,” Arshdeep began his post-match press meet, even allowing himself the luxury of a relieved chuckle.

The 24-year-old had in front of him an in-form Matthew Wade, and he surprised him with a bouncer outside the off-stump and to be fair to the Aussies’ captain, that ball ought to have been called a wide for its height.

The second ball was an inch-perfect yorker on the off-stump as Wade could only squirt it back to the bowler. Arshdeep missed a yorker again off the third delivery, but the low full-toss was enough for him to get the wicket of Wade through a catch in the deep by Shreyas Iyer.

Arshdeep thought the match turned in India’s favour at that moment.

“I was just thinking that I have nothing to lose as I have already given away a lot of runs. Surya bhai was also saying the same thing that ‘let’s see how it goes.’ My gut feeling was to bowl a bouncer off the first ball to put some doubt in Wade’s mind and once I got his wicket the belief came (in me) that we can win this match,” said Arshdeep.

The pacer was effusive in his praise for the way Suryakumar led the side during this series.

“He gives a lot of freedom. We had played in a few batting-friendly pitches earlier in the series but he said wherever there are challenges opportunities too will be there. He was telling us not to worry about the results but to focus on the process and force the batsmen to score runs off good deliveries. He never put us under pressure,” he said.

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