The 23-year-old was one of the positives of India’s T20 World Cup campaign that ended with a semifinal defeat to eventual champions England. Arshdeep, with his ability to swing the ball both ways ended up as the team’s leading wicket-taker, claiming 10 scalps from six games at an economy of 7.80.
“I always try to learn from the senior bowlers in the team (on knuckle ball), just like I am learning the hard length from you and the knuckle ball from Bhuvi bhai (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) and yorkers from (Mohammed) Shami bhai,” Arshdeep said in an interaction with Mohammed Siraj on bcci.tv.
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“I always try to improve myself everyday and contribute for the team whenever needed and hope to step-up and perform well.”
Arshdeep (4/37) registered career-best T20I figures on Tuesday against New Zealand in the rain-affected third match of the series, which ended in a rare tie via Duckworth-Lewis method.
He was on the verge of taking a hat-trick towards the close of New Zealand innings, removing Daryl Mithcell and Ish Sodhi in the first two deliveries of the 19th over, but failed to achieve the feat in the end.
“I even had a thought that I can take a hat-trick or a five-wicket haul. But you did make a run-out and gave a team hat-trick. The seniors advised me to bowl length and slower balls to deceive the opponent,” Arshdeep said.
Siraj, who shifted the momentum in India’s way with his career-best figures of 4/17 in Tuesday’s match, said his plan to bowl hard lengths paid rich dividends for him.
“It feels great to perform like this for the country. I have been preparing myself for a long time to bowl hard length. It was not easy to bowl hard length here. My simple plan was to play hard length,” Siraj said.
“Representing India is a different feeling altogether. My target in T20s is to pick up wickets but I always try to give less runs.”
(With PTI Inputs)
