'Have only seen Zaheer, Nehra do that' - Virender Sehwag lauds death-over specialist Arshdeep Singh

Virender Sehwag has been left impressed with Arshdeep Singh‘s performance as he compared his abilities with Indian greats like Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra. Sehwag said that the pacer is special as he bowls in the death for Punjab Kings consistently along with delivering some powerplay overs.

The BCCI announced an 18-member Indian squad for the upcoming series against South Africa, starting on 9th June. Players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been given rest while new opportunities have come up for some uncapped players like Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik as they have been rewarded with a maiden call-up due to their fantastic performances in IPL 2022.

Have only seen Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra do what Arshdeep is doing: Virender Sehwag

Notably, Arshdeep has scalped 10 wickets in 14 matches while in IPL 2022. He has four wickets in the death and the left-arm pacer has conceded at only 7.91 runs an over in that phase amongst pacers, which is just behind Jasprit Bumrah’s 7.66. Sehwag hailed Arshdeep for his ability to trouble the batters the same way as Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, which he witnessed during his playing days. 

“Arshdeep has impressed me because he bowls two of the last three overs for Punjab Kings. He may not have that many wickets, but his economy rate is brilliant. He is the bowler who bowls one over with the new ball and two in the slog overs,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

“I have only seen Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra do that during my time. Now, it’s Arshdeep and Bumrah, and Bhuvneshwar as well. It is a very difficult job to bowl in the slog overs,” he added.

Arshdeep Singh has been showing consistency in his performance as he bagged 18 wickets at an average of 19 in 12 matches in the last year’s IPL for the Punjab Kings. His yorkers and overall performance in the death overs made Punjab retain him ahead of IPL 2022 for INR 4 crore.