Former Indian opener Abhinav Mukund has put his weight behind Arshdeep Singh after India suffered a 24-run loss in the fourth T20I against the West Indies at Hyderabad on Wednesday. Mukund highlighted that Arshdeep Singh has been asked to do a few different things with the ball by the management.
Singh conceded 52 runs in his quota of four overs and bagged a single wicket of Rovman Powell. The left-arm seamer was expensive in his first two overs in the Powerplay but bounced back strongly at the fag end of the innings.
Meanwhile, Singh returned with impressive figures of 3-44 in his quota of four overs at Indore and was awarded Player of the Match.
Abhinav Mukund said on Cricinfo, “When everyone’s getting hit, don’t think you should pinpoint one person. The whole ecosystem has gone for runs. So, I think we need to recalibrate. Three for 44 was a Player of the Match performance because he dismissed Shai Hope and Sherfane Rutherford. And it was one of those spells where he was bowling to his plans.”
Mukund said Singh has had to do a few different things in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah.
“He’s been asked to do a few different things in the absence of Bumrah. He usually bowls the first over even if Bumrah’s around. He sacrificed that to Mayank Yadav. Then he’s asked to come and bowl the sixth over of the powerplay. He doesn’t necessarily bowl that. He enjoys bowling in the death, but he’s been called upon sooner. So it’s a different role also for Arshdeep.”
The cricketer-turned-commentator said Keemo Paul was the difference in the end between the two teams. Paul registered impressive figures of 5-41 in his four overs and thus played a key role in the visitors’ win.
He concluded, “Keemo Paul was very good from the start. And I thought the plans that he had for Sanju Samson, keeping that deep square leg and for Ishan Kishan, keeping the deep mid-wicket and bowling the yorker on leg stump, were very good. He bowled with a lot of intent and a lot of purpose. Some of the balls were registering 145 clicks on the speedometer. Couple of send-offs also. I didn’t mind it because it felt like someone was competing. And he was the difference in the end.”
The fifth and final match of the series between India and the West Indies will be played at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Saturday.
