The steady rise of India's young left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh continued as he picked his best-ever figures in T20I cricket with 4/37 in four overs in the third and final T20I against New Zealand at McLean Park in Napier.
While Mohammed Siraj rattled New Zealand batters with his hard lengths, Arshdeep was bringing out all the tools he had in his armoury to outclass the hosts' batting line-up. He took out Daryl Mitchell with a potent bouncer and then dismissed Ish Sodhi for a first-ball duck with a pin-point yorker.
Apart from this, Arshdeep had taken out openers Finn Allen and Devon Conway too. He also showed his ability to bowl the knuckle-ball too. He credited senior pacers in the Indian team for helping him with adding more variety to his bowling skills.
"It's all from the guidance from the experienced players in the team. I constantly try to learn from them. I try to learn hard-length deliveries from you (Siraj). I am learning knuckleball from Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) bhai."
"Earlier I learned how to use yorkers from (Mohammed) Shami bhai. I try to improve myself and hope to step-up and perform well when the team requires you to stop runs or get a wicket," said Arshdeep in a chat with Mohammed Siraj in a video posted on BCCI.TV.
Arshdeep was also on the verge of a hat-trick, but Siraj made it a team hat-trick by running out Adam Milne with a direct-hit from backward point."I even had a thought that I can take a hattrick or a five-wicket haul.
But you did make a run-out and gave a team hattrick. The seniors advised me to bowl length and slower balls to deceive the opponent," he added.Arshdeep has been the find for India in T20Is this year, stepping up admirably in Jasprit Bumrah's absence to pick ten wickets in the Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.
Since his T20I debut against England in July this year, he has picked 33 wickets in 21 matches at an average of 18.12 and economy rate of 8.17."I am learning and will try to implement it in the future. All is well that ends well.
The team has got a series win and I am happy to witness your bowling and will try to do well in the future," he concluded.