Hours before the game started, Arshdeep Singh’s family was watching the South Africa versus West Indies game in their hotel room in Chennai. “When the West Indies batsmen were hitting, my dad used to chide, saying, ‘what are you doing, what are you doing?” he recounted, chuckling. His reply was practical: “I said, it’s okay, don’t worry, just enjoy the match, and hope that South Africa wins, and we win both our matches well.”
It was how he approached the game, too, without any nerves but with the belief that India would beat Zimbabwe. “I think if we win, we play good cricket, the result will take care of itself. We had a lot of fun, they played very well, and we’ll try to not lose in the finals,” he said.
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The left-arm seamer’s performances had flown under the radar this tournament. In five games, he has nabbed eight wickets and conceded at 7.11 runs an over. But he is happy that he is contributing to the team. “I am enjoying my rhythm right now and just trying to keep things simple and enjoy it as well. Some days are good, some days are bad, so I am just making peace with it and enjoying it. I am trying to control the number of bad balls, so yeah, mainly that,” he said.
The nature of the wickets is not bothering him. “As long as our batsmen are enjoying batting on that wicket, we are more than happy. If we get a run, it’s not a problem, but the way our gameplay has been for the past two years, we score a lot and try to defend it,” he said.
“So as long as we keep getting wickets where the batsmen can play freely, because we bat up to the 8th number, so as long as they get that freedom from the wickets and they can make runs freely, we are more than happy to do the dirty job and that’s it,” he added.
Taking the new ball is “fun” he says, and not a burden. “ It’s great, it’s fun. As a youngster, it’s your dream to play for India, and if you get a chance in the World Cup, it’s a lot of fun,” he said.
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He detailed his mindset when tasked with the new ball in a format as fickle as T20s. “If you get to bowl two overs in powerplay, then the chance is that you’ll get a lot of wickets, because the batsmen go to make runs at that time. 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? So I’m working on that, with Morne (Morkel), and I have some great bowling partners, whether it’s Mohammed Siraj or Jasprit Bumrah, and with the new ball, there’s Hardik bhai as well.”
India’s highest wicket-taker in this format, he said in jest that his job is to keep the dressing room light-hearted. “All the youngsters are batsmen, they are younger than me, bowling group, I am the youngest, so I am still learning from them. I just try, I just try to keep the dressing room environment light,” he said.
“You don’t stay at home all the time, you are mostly here and there, so you don’t get time to be with your family, so how much family environment you can create in the team, so I just try that, and whether you are a senior or a junior, I try that everyone enjoys each other’s company, and keeps chilling,” he said. He sprinkles a lot of humour with the microphone in his hand, too.
