Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra heaped praise on Arshdeep Singh after the left-arm pacer produced a fine spell of bowling against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup at the iconic MCG on Sunday. India went on to win their opening game by four wickets and Singh played an instrumental role.
Meanwhile, the youngster was criticized and trolled after he had dropped Asif Ali’s catch in the Super four stage of the Asia Cup against Pakistan. However, Singh made a roaring comeback and did a magnificent job for the team.
The 23-year-old accounted for Babar Azam on the first ball he bowled in the World Cup event. Singh also got the big wicket of Mohammed Rizwan and then dismissed Asif Ali at the fag end of the innings. Thus, Singh scalped three wickets and conceded 32 runs in his quota of four overs.
Singh bowled in the right areas, especially in the PowerPlay overs and he was able to reap his rewards.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “Arshdeep came and dismissed Babar right at the start and after that Rizwan. A full delivery to Babar and a bouncer to Rizwan. He was on the floor when he dropped the catch in Dubai but now he is once again at the top. Deep had to shine today because it was Choti Diwali.”
Chopra also lauded Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who dismissed Shaheen Shah Afridi and conceded 22 runs in his allotted four overs.
“He got another wicket later. He made Asif Ali duck and dismissed him. I was absolutely stunned by the way he bowled. Bhuvneshwar Kumar started very well, let’s be very honest, and swung the ball both ways. He didn’t get the wickets but he kept the batters in check.”
On the other hand, Hardik Pandya also impressed with both bat as well as the ball. Pandya was able to extract bounce from the surface as bent his back and bowled around 140 kmph. The all-rounder scalped three wickets and conceded 30 runs in his four overs. Chopra feels Pandya made the difference as a sixth bowler.
“You had a sixth bowling option in the form of Hardik. It was the difference between India and Pakistan, they didn’t have that. In the end, Pakistan made 159. There were some good knocks but the Indian bowlers kept them in check.”
India will be up against the Netherlands on Thursday at the SCG.
