Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has criticized left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh for continuously bowling no-balls despite a very good performance in the recent second T20I between India and New Zealand in Lucknow.
Arshdeep returned figures of 2/7 in 2 overs in Lucknow T20I, keeping New Zealand to 99/8. This was a better outing for the youngster after going for 51 runs in his 4 overs in the first T20I in Ranchi.
One of the main reasons for that drubbing was him bowling no-balls as it resulted in him going for 27 runs in the last over of the innings. Earlier this month, he had become the only Indian bowler to bowl five no-balls in a T20I which came against Sri Lanka.
Gautam Gambhir has advised pacer Arshdeep Singh to stick with basics in order to avoid bowling no-balls while calling this mistake ‘unacceptable’.
“I think. these numbers are fine, it can go south and it can go north. But the most important thing is you can’t afford to bowl those no-balls. That is absolutely unacceptable, especially at this level, and it can come back to hurt you and the team big time.
And that is exactly what happened in the previous game. Just keep the basics right. See, World Cup conditions are completely different from what you normally get back home. In Australia, it was swinging and it was still bouncing, decent carry as well with the new ball. But when you play at the sub-continent, these are flat wickets,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
He furthermore advised Arshdeep Singh to develop variations in his bowling given that he lacks the lethal pace of someone like Umran Malik or Mohammed Siraj.
“You gonna have something different up your sleeves whether it’s a slower one or a slower bouncer. Some kind of variation. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the speed to actually rattle the batsmen. So he’s got to develop some variation. He is not Umran Malik, he’s not Mohammed Siraj. So one thing he needs to do is probably try and keep it very simple and sort his no balls out which is equally important,” Gambhir said.
The third and final T20I will be played on Wednesday in Ahmedabad.
