Arshdeep Singh made his international debut in July 2022 and since then, he has been part of 52 out of 61 matches India has played till date. In the same timeframe, India have played 53 ODIs of which only six feature Arshdeep.
Clearly, the left-arm pacer has been pigeonholed a T20 specialist by the Indian team management and the faith hasn’t been misplaced. Recently, at the 2024 T20 World Cup, he finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps as India became the champions.
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However, he’s improving his game for the longer formats which has also impacted his T20 bowling.
Arshdeep’s coach Jaswant Rai has revealed that the focus on T20s meant the ;eft-armer became obsessed with variations and as a result, he would end up bowling a couple of loose deliveries in an over.
“We were only focusing on the T20s. When he got the chance to play ODIs against New Zealand in 2022, he was expensive. Wo chaar over ka bowler ban gaya tha (He become a bowler for four overs). He was not playing first-class cricket regularly and that’s why he was struggling in the ODIs,” Rai told The Indian Express.
Rai reveals that the outgoing India head coach Rahul Dravid helped Arshdeep land a deal with Kent and he played five first-class matches for the English county club which proved fruitful as far as his development is concerned.
“In the longer format, you can’t use variations in every ball. He developed that muscle memory in Kent. He bowled a lot of overs, it helped him understand the importance of hitting the length. Earlier after every third ball, he was trying to bowl a yorker or a slower one and he ended up being expensive. That obsession with variations was distilled in his bowling. He was relying more on variations rather than hitting the good length,” Rai said.
“In his county stint, he understood the difference between bowling in the T20I, ODIs and first-class cricket. When he played in the ODI series in South Africa, he was the player of the series. He picked up 10 wickets, including a five-wicket haul,” he added.
Dravid also instructed Arshdeep to work on his batting.
“Rahul Dravid wanted him to play in the ODIs as well. He asked him to play more red ball and even helped him get that contract with the Kent,” Rai said.
“It was again Rahul Dravid who has asked him to work on his batting so that when 8-10 runs would be needed in the crucial games, he should have the ability to get his team over the line,” he added.
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