1 week Ago By Mid-day
captain Suryakumar Yadav heaped praises on pacer Arshdeep Singh for delivering performances in crunch situations. Arshdeep Singh who was struggling to bring his A game out in the first two T20Is, found his rhythm in the later two games against South Africa. After Tristan Stubbs smashed him all over Gqeberha during the second T20I, the left-armer returned to his classy act by rattling South Africa's batting order.
After India hammered 283/1 in the fourth T20I, Arshdeep left the Proteas shell-shocked with his spell in the powerplay. Arshdeep Singh single-handedly pulled the sheets in India's favour when he removed Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen in the first six overs. The pacer returned with the figures of three wickets for 20 runs in three overs.
"Arshdeep has been an important part of this team. He has delivered in crunch situations every time, and today was no different. We were actually, we came here last time, and it was the same wicket and same conditions," said in the post-match press conference.
The 25-year-old went over the wicket to deliver a peach to dismiss Hendricks. He then lured Markram into mistiming his shot and pinned Klassen in front of the stumps with another inswinging beauty. Notably, there was a striking contrast in the way both sides batted.
While India adopted a free-flowing approach, South Africa struggled to get going right from the first delivery. Later, Suryakumar Yadav revealed that the Indian bowlers had a word with the batsmen to find the patch where they found it difficult to play. "It was cold a little bit after the lights got on, and we just went back to basics.
All the fast bowlers spoke to the batters. How was the wicket? What were the lengths which were good on the track and we just wear ourself and the way they delivered with the ball in the first six overs. I think the game was almost over at that time," he added.
Team India clinched the T20I series against South Africa by 3-1..
