How the Kent stint cleared up Arshdeep Singh’s obsession of bowling too many variations

Jaswant Rai sitting in his living room in Chandigarh, 13,252 km away from Barbados, didn't watch a single ball of the penultimate over bowled by his ward Arshdeep Singh in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa. With his fingers crossed, Rai closed his eyes every time Arshdeep ran in with the ball in the 19th over. It was more to do with fear than superstition.

"When he was given the 19th over, I was tensed. If he would have ended up conceding a couple of boundaries, he would have been blamed for the loss. The abuse he received after the 2022 Asia Cup is still fresh in my memory. I didn't watch a single ball of the 19th over. I kept my eyes closed, the moment he was in his running stride," Rai tells the Indian Express.

In 2022, Arshdeep was subjected to trolling after dropping Pakistan's Asif Ali in a tense chase in the Asia Cup. He faced a barrage of criticism on social media with an unidentified user even editing the player’s Wikipedia page to add references to “Khalistan.”

"Before the final, I texted him and reminded him he has got a golden opportunity in the final and must not let it slip. I told him 'You have 24 balls to bowl and 1.5 billion Indians will be watching and backing you and you must bowl those 24 balls in a way that fans will remember it for a long, long time," shares Rai.

In the past two years, since making his international debut in July 2022 against England in Southampton, the left-arm seamer has grown from strength to strength. The 25-year-old finished the T20 World Cup as the joint-highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets and it was disciplined bowling in the 19th over of the match, which gave Hardik Pandya 16 runs to defend in the last over. Arshdeep gave away only four runs.

"It is the best over he has bowled in his career so far," says Rai.

"From Adelaide in 2022 to Barbados in 2024, you can see he has matured. The level of confidence has gone up. He now feels that he can do anything. The element of nervousness has vanished," he adds.

The guidance of Bumrah

In the match against Australia in the Super Eight, Arshdeep finished with 3 for 37, removing David Warner in the first over and then getting the wickets of big-hitters Tim David and Matthew Wade in the death overs. He has credited his success to Jasprit Bumrah.

"Jassi bhai gives, what, three or four runs in an over - so batters are coming hard against me, and there are a lot of chances of getting wickets there," he said.

"In the death overs, they see the runs are not coming and the asking rate is going high, so they take more risks against me. So a lot of credit for my wickets goes to Jassi bhai."

In the IPL 2024, Arshdeep picked up 19 wickets for his franchise Punjab Kings but his economy rate was in double digits (10.03).

"When he played in the IPL, although he picked wickets, his economy rate was very high. When he was picked for the World Cup, someone questioned his place in the team. I was asked about his IPL performance. I remember saying that he will bowl in the World Cup with Jasprit Bumrah. With Bumrah from one end, it automatically reduces the pressure and gives you that extra cushion. He has excelled under Bumrah's guidance," says Rai.

Not a one-trick pony anymore

Arshdeep has been seen as a T20 specialist because of his exploits in the IPL and for India. Coach Rai feels this made him a "chaar over ka bowler" and he started struggling as well. Arshdeep developed a tendency to bowl two bad balls in an over because he was obsessed with the variations.

"We were only focusing on the T20s. When he got the chance to play ODIs against New Zealand in 2022, he was expensive. Wo chaar over ka bowler ban gaya tha (He had become a bowler for four overs). He was not playing first-class cricket regularly and that's why he was struggling in the ODIs," says Rai.

"In the longer format, you can't use variations in every ball."

The stint with Kent right after the end of IPL 2023, helped Arshdeep understand the importance of hitting the good lengths regularly. Although he picked up only 13 scalps in his five outings for Kent the seamer ended up bowling 161.4 overs, which according to Rai was a blessing.

"He developed that muscle memory in Kent. He bowled a lot of overs, it helped him understand the importance of hitting the length. Earlier after every third ball, he was trying to bowl a yorker or a slower one and he ended up being expensive. That obsession with variations was distilled in his bowling. He was relying more on variations rather than hitting the good length," he continues.

"In his county stint, he understood the difference between bowling in the T20I, ODIs and first-class cricket. When he played in the ODI series in South Africa, he was the player of the series. He picked up 10 wickets, including a five-wicket haul," says Rai.

Rai reveals it was Rahul Dravid, who helped him get that contract with Kent. "Rahul Dravid wanted him to play in the ODIs as well. He asked him to play more red ball and even helped him get that contract with the Kent," says.

The other factor where Dravid has asked Arshdeep to work is his batting. His batting stance against Pakistan became a social media meme and Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma couldn't control their laughter in the dugout. Arshdeep scored nine off 13 balls and India won the match by six runs.

"Those were crucial runs," laughs Rai. "It was again Rahul Dravid who has asked him to work on his batting so that when 8-10 runs would be needed in the crucial games, he should have the ability to get his team over the line," he says.

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