Birthday special: Arshdeep Singh – Left-arm pacer to watch out for
Arshdeep Singh has impressed one and all with his left-arm pace as he became an overnight sensation in the IPL ever since he started for Punjab Kings since the 2019 edition. He was retained by the Punjab-based franchise IPL 2019 mini-auction for his impressive performances in the domestic season.
The tall left-arm pacer was an integral part of India’s ICC U-19 World Cup triumph in 2018 where Prithvi Shaw & Co. went on to lift a record fourth crown for the Boys in Blue. Known for his ability to bowl yorkers at the death, Arshdeep has once again been retained by the 2014 finalists for IPL 2022.
The budding pacer, who turns 23 today, has a very good height and standing at 6 ft and three inches tall. He has the calibre to go down in the history of Indian and world cricket to go down as one of the greatest to have played the game. In the last few years, India have given chances to a few left-arm pacers to shine at the highest level including the likes of Barinder Sran, Khaleel Ahmed, etc. and hopefully, Arshdeep might also get to don the Indian jersey somewhere down the line.
The beginning
It was at the age of 13 that Arshdeep started playing the game for his school and then started playing in the state-level tournaments for Chandigarh and Punjab. The pacer registered 19 scalps from five matches for Chandigarh in Punjab Inter-District ODI Championship for DP Azad Trophy. After an impressive performance for India Red in the Challenger Trophy in 2017 finishing with seven wickets, he earned a call-up for the India U19 squad. The youngster also made his presence felt in that competition by clocking around the 145 kph mark consistently.
While Arsheep Singh tried his level best as far as individual performances are concerned in the last three seasons, the team performance was not up to the mark as the 2014 runners-up failed to make the playoffs despite getting everything right. He finished with 18 scalps from 12 games and that is the main reason why PBKS decided to retain him just months before the IPL 2022 mega auction along with explosive opener Mayank Agarwal as they decided to part ways with the rest of the players to start afresh.
With the Asia Cup T20 and the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 scheduled later in the year, Arshdeep Singh would be hoping to come up with some extraordinary spells along with yorking the best in the business during the death overs to get the national team selectors’ attention as India look forward to welcoming yet another promising left-arm pacer at the highest level.
