Thought I would be the culprit of the game: Arshdeep

Usually, the Chinnaswamy Stadium offers a belter of a track for batters. But Sunday (November 3) was unlike any other night here in Bangalore, with the conditions being slightly two-paced and allowing the bowlers to have a massive say in the proceedings. 

It was that tilted that at the halfway point, Indian vice-captain Shreyas Iyer felt that even the total of 160 was 10-15 runs above par. But there was once a situation later on in the clash when the game was steadily slipping away from the hands of the Men in Blue, with Arshdeep Singh taking a hammering. 

The left-arm pacer conceded 37 runs in his first three overs, and there was one point when the game was firmly in Australia’s favour after conceding a six and a four. It was at that moment when Arshdeep thought that he was the ‘culprit’ of the game. 

"I guess for the big part of the game, for almost the first 19 overs, I was thinking that I gave away too many runs and would be the culprit of the game," Arshdeep said on the official broadcast. "But god gave me another chance and I believed in myself. Thanks to god that I defended it and thanks to the staff as well who believed in me."

Arshdeep was tasked with the tough job of defending just ten off the last over. It wasn’t a new situation for the pacer, who time and again has been tasked with bowling in such tough situations.

The 24-year-old rose through the tough situation with a brilliant last over, where he executed a bouncer and a yorker before Matthew Wade holed out one to the deep fielder under pressure. But even then, Arshdeep credited the Indian batters, stating that the bowling unit had a cushion of extra 15-20 runs. 

"To be honest, nothing was going through my mind. Surya [Suryakumar Yadav] bhai told me that whatever happens, happens. Had a gut feeling that I had to bowl bouncer there and when I got Wade’s wicket, I had the assurity that we won the game. The credit goes to our batsmen as well. They gave us a really good total here on a tricky wicket and we had a cushion of an extra 15 to 20 runs,” Arshdeep said in the post-match press conference. 

One hallmark of this series is how Suryakumar Yadav has managed his resources, leading in Indian colours for the first time. Across the four T20Is, the theme was pretty similar, with how the Mumbaikar had given the players a free hand. It wasn’t any different here, with Arshdeep praising the skipper for giving the team enough freedom. 

“Free hand, I would use that word to describe Suryakumar’s captaincy, he gave the bowlers and batters enough freedom for us to go and express ourselves. They were batting-friendly wickets, but he told us only one thing: if you pick wickets on these wickets, you will stand out. Surya (bhai) gave us a lot of freedom; there was nothing forced upon us. 

“Express yourself, and be clear in your thoughts. The roles were well-defined, and it gave us a lot of confidence. As youngsters, it gave us enough freedom as well. From the beginning, it was all about backing your plans and skillset. Back yourself was really the message from the dressing room,” he added.

Despite the win, Arshdeep insisted that it was not even par for a bowling standard as good as expected. However, the Punjab pacer insisted that these five T20Is were a good learning curve for the bowling unit. 

"According to the standards we have set as a bowling unit in the Indian team, it was not even near par," Arshdeep accepted. "But a lot of lessons learnt and, in the future, I will make sure to rectify those mistakes and come back stronger."

Ravi Bishnoi’s emergence alongside Axar Patel’s street-smartness was perhaps a big difference between the two sides in this series. Arshdeep hailed the spinners for doing a ‘very good job’ in the series and added that they bowled extremely well even on placid wickets with dew around. 

“It wasn’t bowling-friendly for me in the first three overs, I bowled a lot of loose deliveries. Credit goes to spinners, and they have done very well in this series throughout. If you look at the first four games, they bowled extremely well even on batting-friendly wickets. They have picked up regular wickets for us.”