"Maybe in Australia if we play four seamers, he has a chance"- Paras Mhambrey on Arshdeep Singh's potential Test debut
Departing Indian bowling coach Paras Mhambrey feels fast bowler Arshdeep Singh could make his Test debut for India during their tour of Australia later this year. The visitors are set to play five Tests down under and Mhambrey feels the left-arm seamer has a chance if they need a fourth seamer as per conditions.
Mhambrey reckons Arshdeep needs to play more domestic cricket to get more control on his bowling with the red ball. However, he believes the youngster has enough talent and one could soon see the left-armer in action in Tests.
Speaking to The Indian Express, here's what Paras Mhambrey had to say about Arshdeep Singh:
"It depends on the conditions. Maybe in Australia, if we play four seamers, he has a chance. To get one in India will be very difficult at the moment. But I feel he just needs a little more game time in first-class cricket, just to get control over his swing and also know how to use reverse-swing, which will be very handy. He has the swing that works for him. It is about maintaining fitness and working on it."
Mhambrey has worked with Arshdeep ever since the latter's U19 days and has been highly impressed with the progress that the left-arm pacer has made.
Arshdeep had a short County stint with Kent and Mhambrey believes that he has come back a different bowler.
Paras Mhambrey on Arshdeep Singh's ability to handle pressure
Paras Mhambrey was delighted with the way Arshdeep Singh has handled pressure, especially in the T20 format. He feels the left-arm pacer has clarity in his thought process and that difficult situations bring the best out of him, thereby enabling him to deliver across any phase of the game.
On this, Mhambrey stated:
"He has shown good maturity in terms of his plans in T20s. Be it bowling in the Powerplay or at the death, he has full clarity. If you look at his body language, he is really pushing and that is a big plus. He is ready to handle pressure.
"You can see his potential in T20s and the idea was to make him a regular in the format and then make the progression to ODIs. We wanted him to play as much first-class cricket as possible just to get control over his skillset."
Arshdeep Singh had a sensational T20 World Cup campaign, picking up the joint-highest wickets (17) in the tournament. He notched up impressive figures of 2/20 in the T20 World Cup final, including the big wickets of Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock.
The Men in Blue defeated the Proteas by seven runs to lift their second T20 World Cup title.