Arshdeep Singh (Getty Images)
CHENNAI: There is an infectious aura around Arshdeep Singh. The left-arm pacer can attack his teammates and swing at the pitch, but off it, he is a ball of energy.Here in Chibok on Thursday night, Arshdeep was in an ominous position, swinging the ball both ways and keeping the Zimbabwe players in check.
He picked up three wickets and surpassed Jasprit Bumrah to become India’s leading wicket-taker in T20 World Cup history with 35 scalps.
After helping India win against Zimbabwe, Arshdeep showed a different image of his dangerous personality on the field in the media zone. Most of his responses were full of beans.
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One such response came when he was asked about South Africa’s win over West Indies earlier in the day, which actually eased India’s way.
He smiled broadly, gave a cheerful “thank you” to the Proteas, and also shared how the tension had returned to the hotel room.“We were not committed to the match but kept checking the scores here and there. My family was in the hotel room and when the West Indies strikers were batting, my father was cursing them. I told them: ‘Don’t get angry, just enjoy the match, and I hope South Africa wins.’ They (South Africa) played very well, thanks to them for giving us the opportunity to decide our result in the next match.
“It was fun to watch and we will try to beat them in the final,” Arshdeep said.India’s next match against West Indies at Eden Gardens will be a virtual quarter-final, and Arshdeep knows it won’t be easy. The Caribbean side’s power-hitters can change the script in the blink of an eye, and they are quick to point out that they are not just a one-dimensional team. After all, the Windies fought their way to a competitive total despite falling to 83-7 against South Africa on Thursday.
“It’s not like they have just one pace. If you look at their match against South Africa, they played well in the middle overs as well. They controlled the match and then played about 180 runs. So I think they can also adapt according to the situation. Looking forward to the match, we will see how the pitch plays and what the conditions are. The focus now is on recovery, we will evaluate things on match day,” Arshdeep said.The only thing Arshdeep will focus on against West Indies on Sunday is, in his words, “trying to control the calm (desire) to bowl bad balls (laughs)”. He went on to add that he and his fellow bowlers are happy to do the “dirty work” on batting-friendly surfaces.“As long as our batsmen enjoy batting on these surfaces, we are quite happy to do the dirty work. We don’t mind getting hit on the run. Our game plan was to score big runs and then try to defend them,” the 27-year-old said.