India’s young fast bowler Arshdeep Singh has revealed that his plan was to keep it simple and bowl in the right areas in the first T20I against South Africa at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. There was a lot of help on the surface for the fast bowlers and Singh wanted to make the most of it.

The 23-year-old took three wickets in his very first over as he accounted for Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw, and David Miller. The South African wicket-keeper batter played the ball back onto the stumps while Rossouw was dismissed with a perfect outswinger.

Miller was then bamboozled with the ball coming back into him and Singh revealed that he enjoyed his wicket the most as he was able to outfox the batter.

Singh returned with impressive figures of 3-32 in his quota of four overs and he was awarded the Player of the match for his fine bowling performance.

Arshdeep was making a return to the team after being rested for the three-match T20I series against Australia and he was able to hit the ground running.

Singh said in the post-match presentation, “I had thought about what to say if I get the man of the match award and got a little excited (when he was eager to come and talk). In the first over DC Bhai (Deepak Chahar) set the tone and we knew there was plenty of help from the surface. The plan was to keep it simple and bowl in the right areas. I enjoyed Miller’s wicket as I thought he was expecting an outswinger but I bowled an inswinger instead. The thought was to get his (Maharaj) wicket but he played well and the plan could have been different. I am refreshed, had a good training session at NCA and hopefully, I give such performances moving forward as well.”

Singh must have gained a lot of confidence with his impressive performance and he will look to continue the good show in the two remaining matches of the series.

The second T20I will be played at Guwahati on Sunday.