Bengaluru – After nearly three months without a match, Arshdeep Singh is back running in for North Zone in the Duleep Trophy and, by his own admission, learning to “enjoy the boring times”. The 26-year-old left-arm quick bowled 17 overs on day two against East Zone – the heaviest workload by any North bowler – and ended with a single wicket, yet walked off content.
“In Test cricket or red-ball cricket, there is a time when the day gets boring,” Arshdeep said. “In the session after lunch, mostly the ball doesn’t do anything. So, how can you enjoy that?
“I spoke to [Mohammed] Siraj and he told me that when nothing is happening, how you enjoy that phase would tell you how successful you could be in red-ball cricket. He gave me this small tip. I really liked it.”
That conversation, along with extended gym and bowling sessions, has framed a quiet off-season. Arshdeep’s last competitive outing came in the IPL, where he finished as Punjab Kings’ leading wicket-taker (21 in 17 matches) and then picked up a maiden Test call-up for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. A freak injury to his bowling hand on the eve of the fourth Test ruined hopes of a debut and left him watching from the sidelines in England.
Asked whether those weeks felt frustrating, he shrugged. “When you are not playing, you just try to push your limits. The training is almost the same,” he explained. “You just put in more work when you are not playing. More overs, more strength work, more training, so that whenever you get the chance, you are ready and fully fit to go.
“I don’t know how many thousands of balls I would have bowled in practice. It’s not like there was a lack of bowling. I was properly managing my workload. The aim is to stay ready whenever you get a chance.”
The early signs in Bengaluru point to decent rhythm. Crucially, his body appears to have come through unscathed. “In the last couple of months I was with the team, I trained a lot, bowled a lot and worked a lot with the S&C [strength and conditioning],” he said. “I worked on fitness as well and that helped me bowl a decent long spell. After 15-17 overs, my body feels well. It’s [the ball] coming out really well. Not many wickets but yes, they will come as well in the future.”
Switching formats – again
This Duleep Trophy fixture is effectively a pit-stop before India’s Asia Cup campaign starts on 9 September in Abu Dhabi. The squad assembles in Dubai on 4 September, and Arshdeep will swap the scuffed red Kookaburra for a brand-new white one. He is unfazed.
“Right from the last Test [at The Oval], I had started practising with a white ball,” he pointed out. “I didn’t know that there was a Duleep Trophy match in between. At the end of the day, red ball, white ball or pink ball, you have to play cricket and try and enjoy it.
“I have got a chance here [at the Duleep Trophy], will play with a white ball next [at the Asia Cup]. So the aim is to put in a lot of overs under your belt and play any format.”
Analytical take
What Arshdeep is really chasing is control. Coaches often talk about left-arm quicks bringing natural variation through angle, but the great ones – think Zaheer Khan at his peak – married that with patience. By focusing on those “boring” passages, Arshdeep is working on that marriage. His economy stayed below three an over on Thursday, the ball leaning in, the odd one zipping away. East Zone batters nudged and waited; he did not over-attack. One wicket is a light return, yet the spell ticked the right boxes with a long season looming.
Next up
North Zone still need to dislodge six East wickets to press for a first-innings lead under the current playing conditions. Whether they manage it may depend on those very periods Arshdeep is trying to enjoy – 1.30 to 3.30pm, surface placid, sweat dripping, crowd thinning. If he can keep hitting that fourth-stump channel then, the boredom might just turn productive.
