Arshdeep Singh conceded 37 runs in the first three overs during the fifth T20I between India and Australia on Sunday in Bengaluru. As Australia chased 161 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Arshdeep felt he would be the culprit from the game by the end of things.
After being put in to bat, India scored a mere 160 runs at a venue that usually produces run feasts. In reply, Australia went from a position of strength to weakness and then held the upper hand once again as the game approached a nervous finish. The Aussies were on 144/7 after 18 overs and needed 17 from 12 balls with Matthew Wade looking in fine touch. Mukesh Kumar gave away only seven in the 19th over which brought the equation to 10 needed off 6 balls.
Up stepped Arshdeep. After two dot balls to begin with, he had Wade holed out to long-on on the third ball to all but end the chase. It presented an interesting stat: the last time a team defended 160 or fewer in a T20 at this venue was in 2017.
“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.”
When asked what his thought process was for the final over, he said: “To be honest, nothing was going through my mind. Surya [Suryakumar Yadav] bhai told me that whatever happens, happens. 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.”
Bengaluru had averaged 196 runs in the first innings in the seven IPL matches this year. This surface was labelled “sticky” by Australia’s Ben McDermott who struck a fifty.
“I am not really sure what Chinnaswamy is normally like,” McDermott, who was playing at the venue for the first time, said. “But I heard it was a really high-scoring ground but the rain coming in all day, these little sprinkles here and there kept it pretty moist. The outfield was quite soft as well. But coming in, it [pitch] looked beautiful, looked really nice but yeah, it was a little bit sticky.”
‘160 was the right total’
Shreyas Iyer, who scored a fifty and played a crucial role in taking India to a fighting total, agreed with Arshdeep who had said 160 runs was above par.
“To be honest, my mindset was to go boom-boom from ball one,” Iyer said. “But when I saw three wickets falling down, my mind started calculating what would be the best total on this wicket. Then I had a few batsmen contributing as well. It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, but if you have a total in mind, you try to play accordingly and today was the right example of how we did it as a team.
“I feel 160 was the right total, which we got eventually. After losing consecutive wickets in the powerplay to get to 160, it was a commendable effort, and to defend it at the same time, brilliant performance by the team.”
Axar Patel posted economical figures of 1/14 and Ravi Bishnoi took two wickets. The Indian seamers, meanwhile, missed the trick. Arshdeep agreed they didn’t have the best day.
“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.”
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