On his comeback to the ODI side, Arshdeep Singh proved his caliber straightaway with the important wicket of New Zealand opener Henry Nicholls in the IND vs NZ 3rd ODI.
There had been a huge clamor on social media over Arshdeep’s exclusion in the first two ODIs against the Kiwis, and even among experts, with R Ashwin speaking at length on why Arshdeep “deserved” to be on India’s side following the defeat in the 2nd ODI in Rajkot.
Despite the fact that Arshdeep was the most economical bowler in the India vs South Africa ODI series and then claimed seven wickets in two outings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the left-armer was excluded from the first two IND vs NZ ODIs as the management preferred the returning Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna over Arshdeep, while Harshit Rana has cemented himself at the No. 8 slot as a bowling all-rounder.
In the series-deciding ODI on Sunday in Indore, India replaced Prasidh, who had taken three wickets at an economy of 6.05 in the first two games of this series, with Arshdeep, and the latter struck instantly to justify his selection.
Arshdeep’s skillset of moving the new ball both ways paid dividends as he had Nicholls chopping onto his stumps while attempting a leave to an away swinger.
It was a length delivery that swung beautifully in the air and was moving away from the left-handed Nicholls after pitching. The batsman judged the line and length accurately and decided to shoulder his arms but went a bit too far across in the process. The ball took the inside edge of Nicholls’ bat and eventually rattled into the stumps to give Arshdeep and India their first wicket of the game after Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl first.
From the other end, Rana took the new ball instead of Siraj and got rid of Devon Conway from the first ball he delivered. Rana’s ball bounced a touch higher than Conway anticipated. The ball took the shoulder of the bat and lobbed straight to Rohit Sharma at first slip, reducing the Kiwis to 5/2.
Watch: Arshdeep Singh takes a wicket in the first over on ODI comeback, Harshit Rana sends back Devon Conway
India made only one change today: Arshdeep replacing Krishna. New Zealand, after their bumper victory in Rajkot, were unchanged.
India vs New Zealand 3rd ODI Playing XIs:
New Zealand: Henry Nicholls, Devon Conway, Kristian Clarke, Glenn Phillips, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell (c), Kyle Jamieson, Zakary Foulkes, Jayden Lennox
India: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Harshit Rana, Virat Kohli, Nitish Kumar Reddy, KL Rahul (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
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