IND vs SA 2022 | Excited about being man of the match, have trained hard, reveals Arshdeep Singh

Arshdeep Singh continues to scale new heights as he once again starred in India’s eight-wicket triumph against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. The lanky pacer returned with figures of 3/32 to earn his first man of the match award in international cricket, in what was his 12th outing with the Men in Blue.

“Have been thinking about the man of the match speech and was excited,” the 23-year-old gushed in the post-match presentation, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.

India got off to a fantastic start after deciding to bowl courtesy of a Deepak Chahar screamer in the first over itself to get rid of opposition skipper Temba Bavuma. Arshdeep Singh was handed the ball next and he went two steps further, scalping three wickets in six deliveries to completely turn the game on its head.

"There was a lot of help from the surface, and DC (Deepak Chahar) bhai set the tone and I just wanted to execute the plans," the pacer said.

The highlight of Singh’s performance was his ability to move the new ball both ways. After having shaped the ball away from Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw to dismiss them, the youngster delivered a wild inswinger to David Miller, making the veteran look like a fish out of water with his stumps disturbed.

“Loved the wicket of David Miller, he was expecting the outswinger, but I got that to swing in. So that was great,” Arshdeep said of the dismissal.

Eventually, the Proteas stabilized to a considerable extent on the back of Keshav Maharaj’s 41 off 35 deliveries, including two boundaries and a six off Arshdeep’s bowling. Nevertheless, he could only take his team to 106 which was chased down by the hosts without much ado.

“We wanted to take his [Keshav Maharaj] wicket, but he batted well. We could have had a different plan but we won the match, and that's what matters,” Arshdeep added.

The left-arm quick is a part of India’s squad for the upcoming World T20 as well and will be one to look out for in the marquee event.

“Have trained hard at the NCA (National Cricket Academy), and want to perform well going forward,” he concluded.