With India preferring to go with Harshit Rana in the playing XI in ongoing T20I series against Australia, pacer Arshdeep Singh has more often than not found himself looking on from the outside. In the first T20I, Singh wasn’t named in the playing XI but the match was washed out. On Friday too, Arshdeep did not feature in the starting XI in Melbourne. Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was frustrated with Arshdeep’s lack of game time and he urged the team management to include the pacer in the team, adding that if he does not get regular game time, he’ll lose his rhythm and turn rusty.
“Arshdeep Singh’s name should be the second name on your fast bowlers’ list if Bumrah is playing. If Bumrah is not playing, Arshdeep becomes your first bowler on that team list. I just cannot understand how Arshdeep Singh keeps missing out from the XI in this side. I don’t really get it. Of course, Harshit Rana had a decent day with the bat. He batted decently but this is not about him at all. It’s about Arshdeep Singh. The performance he put in the T20 World Cup in 2024, after that he has consistently found ways to stay out of the team. He has been benched so many times that he has lost a bit of rhythm,” Ashwin said on the Ash ki Baat show on his YouTube channel.
“We saw in the Asia Cup, he bowled well, he came back very well in the spell but he looked rusty. You champion bowler will look rusty if you don’t play him. So it’s a really tough situation if you are Arshdeep Singh and I really hope he starts getting the place he deserves. He deserves to be there and it’s not about somebody else. He has a place in the team. Please play him,” he added.
On Friday, Harshit was the second-highest scorer for India vs Australia after he chipped in with 35 runs with the Kolkata Knight Riders bowler and Abhishek Sharma (68) helped the Men in Blue to post 125 runs. It was a below-par total which Australia easily chased down with 40 balls to spare.
Rana couldn’t make much impact with the ball, taking no wickets for 27 runs in 2 overs while Bumrah snapped up 2 along with Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy also taking 2 apiece. Ultimately though, the hosts won by 4 wickets and took 1-0 lead in the 5-match series.
