Punjab Kings six-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, even after a 220-plus target, showed the table-toppers aren’t invincible. They have, as fast bowling coach James Hopes said, a few areas to “tidy up”.
One of those being Arshdeep Singh’s current form.
Arshdeep, one of the frontline bowlers of India’s T20I team, is the Kings’ bowling spearhead. He is a back-to-back T20 World Cup winner as well. But so far in this IPL, the left-arm quick has only eight scalps from as many games. What’s more worrying is his economy rate — 10.96.
Even Bhuvneshwar Kumar (7.61) and Mohammed Shami (8.06), both quite older than the 27-year-old Arshdeep have better economy rates after eight games.
For a bowler, whose job is to deliver both during the Powerplay and the death overs, such numbers don’t bode well. Arshdeep has struggled to extract movement while his yorkers too haven’t fallen into place. His only performance of note has been against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, where he took 3/22.
Arshdeep has had a difficult time since the business end of the T20 World Cup. In India’s last three matches — the Super Eight game versus the West Indies, semi-final against England, and the final against New Zealand — he gave away 126 runs off his 12 overs, for just one wicket.
India didn’t feel the pinch, though, thanks to the brilliance of the likes of Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Jasprit Bumrah.
For sure, the T20 format can be cruel for bowlers, expected to deliver in conditions without any assistance for them. In Arshdeep’s case, however, what appeared to be of concern was his inability to create pressure on Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey when the Kings had 72 to defend off the last 36 balls.
“What he (Arshdeep) needs to do is analyse the conditions carefully and work on the lengths he needs to bowl,” former national selector Subroto Banerjee, whose tenure ended in September, told The Telegraph on Wednesday.
Fatigue factor
Following the World Cup, the India players didn’t even have three weeks to recover for the IPL. Fatigue too can creep in, more so as this tournament involves frequent travelling.
Barring the group clash against Pakistan in Colombo, Arshdeep had featured in all of India’s T20 World Cup matches, which means he too has had very little rest. “But Arshdeep is a tough guy, and workload isn’t much of a problem for him,” Banerjee said.
“In such a long tournament like the IPL, with so many matches to play, there will be some not going your way. But given Arshdeep’s skills, he shouldn’t be taking much time to regain rhythm.”
There’s still enough time for Arshdeep to do so. The sooner he does, the better.