Working on my skills and awareness with Bumrah, Siraj, Morkel: Arshdeep
India pacer Arshdeep Singh said he is still learning the nuances of his craft, like adaptability and staying ahead of batters, from his senior partners Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj. Arshdeep took three wickets, conceding a mere 24 runs, to keep the shackles on Zimbabwe batters in the T20 World Cup Super Eights match here.
“I am the youngest of the bowling group. The team shows you trust, if you get a chance to put in two overs in the power play, then the chance is that you’ll get a lot of wickets because the batsmen go to make runs at that time,” Arshdeep began in an interaction with media after India’s 72-run win over the African side.
“So, how can I be proactive, one step ahead of the batsmen, and how can I adapt according to the conditions? How can I change my gameplay? I’m working on that with Mourne (Morkel), and I have some great bowling partners — Mohamed Siraj or Jasprit, and on the new ball, there’s Hardik bhai as well,” he added.
But batters putting up a massive 256 on the board help bowlers?
“We were not looking at how many runs we scored, we just wanted to bowl according to our plans and maintain our standards. We always keep a target in mind, like 160 or 180, according to the wicket and ground conditions and what the wicket is playing like, etc.
“So, we always try to raise our standards as a bowling unit, and, yes, it’s good to have the cushion of an extra 20, 30, 40, or 70 runs. But at the end of the day, we just want to raise our standards as a bowling group,” he added. India will now face two-time champions West Indies in a virtual knockout game at Kolkata on March 1 for a place in the semifinals. Arshdeep was aware of the task ahead of the team. “They (WI vs SA) played really nicely in the middle overs, they took the game deep and then made 180 runs.
“So I guess they can also adapt, according to the situation, but looking forward to the game, we’ll see how the wicket plays, what the conditions are like,” he said. Arshdeep said the players and their family members were keeping an eye on the Windies’ match against South Africa. A West Indies win on Thursday could have dulled India’s hopes of entering the semifinals, but the Proteas scored a thumping nine-wicket win to keep Group 1 open.
“My family was in the room. When the West Indies batsmen were hitting, my dad scolded him, saying, What are you doing? What are you doing? I said, it’s okay, just enjoy the match and hope that South Africa wins, and we win both our matches well. “I think if we win, we play good cricket, the result will take care of itself, and they played very well. Thank you to them as well for giving us the chance to decide our result in the next match,” he added.
