Arshdeep Singh may not be a starter in Tests, but isn’t far away: Paras Mhambrey

Arshdeep Singh has proved his mettle in the shortest format of the game. He was impressive in the T20 World Cup 2022 and came all guns blazing in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024. The left-arm pacer was the highest wicket-taker in the tournament sharing the spot with Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi, claiming 17 wickets. There has been talk of him featuring in the Indian Test squad and former India bowling coach, Paras Mhambrey has his say on the debate.

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India have an important task at hand as they will tour Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in December. Arshdeep, who is known to flourish in swinging conditions, becomes a go-to weapon for India. Moreover, he has experience having played white-ball cricket in the continent back in 2022. Mhambrey expressed that the 25-year-old requires game time in domestic cricket before venturing onto the purest format of the game.

“It depends on the conditions. Maybe in Australia, if we play four seamers, he has a chance. To get one in India will be very difficult at the moment. But I feel he just needs a little more game time in first-class cricket, just to get control over his swing and also know how to use reverse-swing, which will be very handy. He has the swing that works for him. It is about maintaining fitness and working on it. At the moment, he may not be a starter in Tests, but isn’t far away,” said Mhambrey as quoted by Indian Express.

Leaving out Shami was never an easy choice: Mhambrey

Mohammed Shami impressed everyone with his performance in the World Cup 2023, becoming the highest wicket-taker in the tournament. But the pacer was not featured in the initial game and only made an entry after Hardik Pandya was ruled out due to injury midway. Criticism flowed from every corner on ruling Shami out at the start of the World Cup and Mhambrey asserted that the veteran was part of the plans but had to make way for the combination the team went with.

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“Shami was always there. But in bilateral series, you had to build a team as well and needed to factor in a lot of things like form and workload. Because of squad strength, he missed out. As far as the World Cup goes, Hardik (Pandya) was the fourth seamer in the squad and when it was clear he would be able to bowl his full quota of overs, he was going to be the third-choice seamer in the XI behind Bumrah and Siraj, who had an outstanding Asia Cup. So leaving out Shami was never an easy choice. Our combination didn’t allow him. But once Hardik was injured, Shami just came in,” he added.