Shorter run-up, increase in pace does the trick for Arshdeep

The mood gets more upbeat when Arshdeep pays a short visit to his parents to eat home cooked food. The first home game against Kolkata Knight Riders turned out to be a fruitful one with Arshdeep dishing out wicket-taking deliveries to set up a PBKS win. His coach Jaswant Rai, who was a Ranji Trophy cricketer, along with his parents Darshan Singh and Baljit Kaur, watched Arshdeep roll the ball from the stands.

“It is a blessing that Punjab Kings are playing five home games in Mohali and we can all go and watch the games live. The only problem is arranging passes for near and dear ones,” laughs Darshan, who was also a cricketer. The family will again visit the stadium to watch Arshdeep play against Gujarat Titans on Thursday evening.

The India pacer, who was having issues with no-balls recently in the series against New Zealand, drew flak from all corners. But Arshdeep worked hard at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and in Chandigarh to overcome his issues. To improve pace and accuracy, Arshdeep reduced his run-up from 30m to 25m. The change worked as he was bowling well past 140kph against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He bamboozled England import Harry Brook with a slow knuckleball.

“Arshdeep was conscious that he bowled no-balls against New Zealand. He was disappointed. He is someone who likes to dish out top-notch performances. So, we worked hard on a few things to deal with the issues. We cut his run-up and worked on his pace too. He likes to analyse his performance after every game. So, he was pumped up ahead of IPL and the hard work done at the NCA also helped him gain confidence. Till now he has not bowled a single no-ball in IPL,” said the Rai.

The 24-year-old has impressed in the IPL with his death bowling tricks in the past and earned the India team call-up in T20Is and ODIs. He enjoyed a top-notch season for PBKS in IPL 2022, becoming their go-to bowler in the death overs, ultimately taking 10 wickets from 14 games at an economy rate of 7.7.

With a successful coach in Trevor Bayliss and seasoned pacers Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Nathan Ellis around, Arshdeep is making most of the exposure.

“Since his first IPL, he has gained maturity and has become a thinking bowler. Like the other day against KKR, Andre Russell was slaying all bowlers including Curran. Arshdeep told Sam to bowl a slow, short ball and Rusell was clean bowled. Playing for India has helped him too. Coach Rahul Dravid has also had a huge influence on him as he has seen him play since his India U-19 days,” said Rai, adding that it was on Dravid’s advice Arshdeep is going to play county cricket for Kent in the off-season to experience bowling in English conditions with the red-ball.

While he is slated to play five games for Kent, the pacer also wants to fine-tune his skills for domestic cricket. With the ODI World Cup coming up, Arshdeep is aiming to play a lot of 50-over games and get out of the frame of bowling four overs in T20s. So far, he has played three ODIs and 26 T20Is for India. “We want him to decrease his variations a bit and bowl 10 overs in a game more often and bowl the length ball consistently. He is 24, he should adjust according to all formats,” added Rai.

Livingstone joins PBKS

Meanwhile, Gujarat Titans, who were battered by KKR in the last match due to Rinku Singh’s fiery knock, will be looking to make a solid comeback against PBKS, who will be bolstered by Liam Livingstone’s presence.

After a long wait, Livingstone is finally in Mohali and training at the nets. He had injured his knee on his Test debut in Pakistan in December 2022 and has not played since. If he plays on Thursday, he is likely to replace Matt Short. Both teams have won two games each in their first three matches. GT should see Hardik Pandya making a comeback as he missed the last game as he was unwell.