The journey of Kings XI Punjab’s rising sensation – Arshdeep Singh

The Indian Premier League is renowned for featuring some of the biggest names of the cricket world along with providing an opportunity to the finest of young talents to showcase their skills and announce their arrival on the big stage. In the ongoing 13th edition of the T20 Extravaganza, we have witnessed a handful of cricketers including the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Priyam Garg, Yashasvi Jaiswal impressing the who’s who of the cricket fraternity. The new addition to this list is Kings XI Punjab’s left-arm medium-fast bowler Arshdeep Singh.

After warming the bench for the first five matches, Arshdeep finally got a chance in the playing XI against Sunrisers Hyderabad on October 9, 2020, at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The seamer bowled a brilliant spell as he took the wickets of two main batsmen namely Manish Pandey and Priyam Garg and gave away 33 runs in his four overs. Decent performance in the match against SRH, earned Arshdeep a place in the next match against Kolkata Knight Riders too where he got the big wicket of power-hitter Andre Russell under his belt.

Let’s take a look at the journey of Punjab’s young pacer.

Birth

Arshdeep Singh was born on February 5, 1999 in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, India. He started playing the game of cricket at a tender age of 13 and represented Chandigarh and Punjab cricket teams in state-level tournaments. His father Darshan Singh was actively involved in the initial stages of his career.

International youth debut

The seamer made his international youth debut at the ACC U19 Asia Cup 2017 against Malaysia U19 in Kuala Lumpur on 10 Nov 2017. He also represented  India Red team in the U19 Challenger Trophy in the same year. The tournament brought him into the limelight as he picked up seven wickets which included a five-wicket haul.

Not much experience in Domestic Circuit

The 20-year-old hasn’t featured in many games in the domestic circuit. He made his debut in domestic cricket in 2019 and has featured in only 3 First-class matches and 10 List A fixtures taking 9 and 11 wickets respectively.

U-19 World Cup 2018

Arshdeep was a part of India’s World Cup-winning squad of the 2018 edition. Though he featured in only 2 games in the tournament, he made headlines with his performance as in a match against Zimbabwe, he bowled at an economy rate of 1.43 and took two wickets in his seven overs.

CK Nayudu Trophy

After his outing in the U-19 World Cup, Arshdeep was included in the Punjab U-23 team for CK Nayudu Trophy where he surprised everyone with his pace and control with the new ball. He made an impact with the ball against Rajasthan taking 8 wickets including a hat-trick. He ended with a 10-wicket-haul in the match.

IPL Career

Arshdeep Singh ??? #KKRvKXIP #IPL2020

— Ashwin ?? (@ashwinravi99) October 10, 2020

The 20-year-old made his IPL debut in 2019 as he was picked by Kings XI Punjab at his base price of INR 20 lakhs. In 5 IPL matches, Arshdeep has taken 6 wickets at an economy of 9.27 and average of 27.8.