India’s young pacer Arshdeep Singh has been one of the stars in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup.
Although India faced defeat at the hands of England in the semis, Arshdeep became India’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 wickets and an economy of 7.80.
Now, there have been many comparisons of late between Arshdeep and former Pakistani pacer Wasim Akram.
One of Arshdeep’s big revelations in this T20 World Cup has been his bowling in the death overs. Without the services of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep has become India’s best bowler in the death.
Former South African player Jonty Rhodes has said that Arshdeep should not be given comparisons at this early stage.
I think that’s putting him under a lot of pressure, to compare him to the great Wasim Akram, the sultan of swing.
Adding further, Rhodes said,
Arshdeep has certainly grown in the last two years and that’s been the case with the Indian fast bowlers. You look at Bumrah and his progression was so so quick and Arshdeep has done the same, he is a young fast bowler, willing to learn and listen and he puts in the hard yards.
Rhodes has worked with Arshdeep during his stint as the fielding coach of Punjab Kings in the IPL.
That’s why he feels that Arshdeep has great potential as a bowler.
He’s someone who has great potential and possibility of having a fantastic career. But you start to compare players to the ones who played before them, that puts them under unnecessary pressure. He wants to be the best Arshdeep Singh.
Rhodes also spoke about the marketability of T10 cricket in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games in the future.
T10 is a shorter, more exciting format than even the T20 game that takes three and a half hours. Maybe at competitions like the CWG or Olympics, we could see it, but the ICC at this stage with their FTP can fit in another format, they are struggling as it is.
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