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CHENNAI: There is an infectious aura around Arshdeep Singh. The left-arm pacer can be cut-throat with his yorkers and swing on the field, but off it, he is a ball of energy.

Here in Chepauk on Thursday night, Arshdeep was in ominous touch, swinging the ball both ways and keeping Zimbabwe’s batters on a tight leash. He picked up three wickets and went past Jasprit Bumrah to become India’s leading wicket-taker in T20 World Cup history with 35 scalps. And after helping India drub Zimbabwe, Arshdeep showed a different shade of himself from his menacing on-field persona at the media zone. Most of his replies were full of beans.


One such reply came when he was asked about South Africa’s win over West Indies earlier in the day, which had already eased India’s path. Grinning, he offered a playful “thank you” to the Proteas and even shared how the tension had played out back in the hotel room.

“We weren’t glued to the match but kept checking the scores here and there. My family was in the hotel room and when the West Indies batters were hitting, my dad was cursing them. I said, ‘Don’t get angry, just enjoy the match, and hope that South Africa win’. They (SA) played very well, thank you to them for giving us the chance to decide our result in the next match. It was fun to watch, and we’ll try to beat them in the final,” Arshdeep said.

India’s next fixture against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens will be a virtual quarterfinal, and Arshdeep knows it won’t be a straightforward affair. The Caribbean side’s power-hitters can change the script in the blink of an eye and he was quick to point out that they are not merely one-dimensional. Windies, after all, clawed their way to a competitive total despite being down to 83-7 against South Africa on Thursday.


“It’s not like they have only one gear. If you look at their game against SA, they played really nicely in the middle as well. They took the game deep and then made around 180 runs. So I guess they can also adapt according to the situation. Looking forward to the game, we’ll see how the pitch plays and what the conditions are like. The focus right now is on recovery, and we’ll assess things on game day,” said Arshdeep.

One thing Arshdeep will be focused on against West Indies come Sunday is, in his own words, “trying to control the chull (urge) of bowling bad balls (laughs)”. And he went on to add that he and his fellow bowlers are happy to do the “dirty job” on batting-friendly surfaces.

“As long as our batters are having fun batting on these surfaces, we’re more than happy to do the dirty job. We don’t mind being hit for runs. Our game plan has been to score big and then try to defend it,” said the 27-year-old.