India captain Suryakumar Yadav lavished praise on Arshdeep Singh for delivering in “crunch situations every time” following his breathtaking display against South Africa in the fourth T20I against South Africa. Arshdeep, who did not seem to be at his best in the first half of the series, found his rhythm in the last two T20Is against South Africa. After Tristan Stubbs smashed him all over Gqeberha during the second T20I, the left-armer returned to his classy act by rattling South Africa’s batting order. After India hammered 283/1 in the fourth T20I, Arshdeep left the Proteas shell-shocked with his spell in the powerplay.

He singlehandedly made the hosts bite the dust by removing Reeza Hendricks, skipper Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen within the first six overs of the second innings. He ended his spell with figures of 3/20 in three overs.

“Arshdeep has been an important part of this team. He has delivered in crunch situations every time, and today was no different. We were actually, we came here last time, and it was the same wicket and same conditions,” Suryakumar said in the post-match press conference.

The 25-year-old went over the wicket to deliver a peach to dismiss Hendricks. He then lured Markram into mistiming his shot and pinned Klassen in front of the stumps with another inswinging beauty.

Notably, there was a striking contrast in the way both sides batted. While India adopted a free-flowing approach, South Africa struggled to get going right from the first delivery.

Suryakumar revealed that bowlers had a word with the batters to find out which length to bowl on a surface where batters looked hard to contain.

“It was cold a little bit after the lights got on, and we just went back to basics. All the fast bowlers spoke to the batters. How was the wicket? What were the lengths which were good on the track and we just wear ourself and the way they delivered with the ball in the first six overs. I think the game was almost over at that time,” he added.

With the series done and dusted, India’s young faces will return home to refine their game in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season.

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