India’s main wicket-taker of 2024, Arshdeep Singh, has been named the ICC Males’s T20I Cricketer of the 12 months on the ICC Awards on Saturday. The left-arm pacer starred as India ended their watch for a serious ICC trophy win with victory within the ICC Males’s T20 World Cup 2024 within the Caribbean and USA again in June, and has gone on to cement his status as one of many main powerplay and demise bowlers within the recreation. The 25-year-old has lengthy been tipped for the highest, and India put quite a lot of religion in his potential since making his full worldwide debut in 2022. And 2024 was the yr when Arshdeep totally established himself as a world-class bowler in T20 Worldwide cricket, taking bucket-loads of wickets with the brand new ball and proving to be persistently economical on the demise on a wide range of surfaces.
Arshdeep was the main Indian wicket-taker in T20Is within the yr, bagging 36 wickets in simply 18 video games. He performed an enormous half in steering India to the title on the ICC Males’s T20 World Cup and stepped up as chief of the assault because the selectors constructed a brand new period for the T20 squad following the triumph within the Caribbean.
Solely 4 gamers on the earth took extra T20I wickets than Arshdeep within the calendar yr – Saudi Arabia’s Usman Najeeb (38), Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga (38), UAE’s Junaid Siddique (40) and Hong Kong’s Ehsan Khan (46) – with all 4 taking part in extra matches. Of these bowlers, solely Hasaranga featured for a full-member nation.
Arshdeep took his wickets at a mean of simply 15.31 and, regardless of predominantly bowling within the powerplay and demise overs, completed the yr with an economic system charge of seven.49. He was a continuing wicket-taking menace, taking his wickets at a strike charge of 10.80.
Arshdeep had plenty of spectacular shows within the yr, not least when he ripped by way of the USA in New York in the course of the T20 World Cup group stage, bagging exceptional returns of 4/9 in his 4 overs.
However Arshdeep’s most important efficiency of the yr got here on the most important stage of all, as he performed an enormous half in serving to India efficiently defend their complete of 176 within the World Cup ultimate in Barbados.
As a part of a tempo trio with Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya that successfully received the sport for India, Arshdeep’s terrific figures of two/20 from 4 overs solely inform a part of the story.
Wonderful with the brand new ball up high, Arshdeep struck within the powerplay to have the harmful South African skipper Aiden Markram caught behind in simply the third over. And when India had been in want of a wicket within the center overs it was Arshdeep that supplied the breakthrough, dismissing a set Quinton de Kock when the Proteas appeared to be answerable for the chase.
India’s collective effort on the demise was astonishing as South Africa pulled up seven runs in need of their goal, and Arshdeep performed an enormous position in that, returning to the assault to bowl the penultimate over with South Africa requiring 20 from 12 deliveries.
Arshdeep delivered a near-perfect demise over beneath the best stress, conceding simply 4 runs to depart Hardik Pandya with 16 runs to defend within the ultimate over, a job that he spectacularly did.
Brilliance within the powerplay, a wicket within the center overs, and economical excellence on the demise – Arshdeep stepped up when it mattered most.
Earlier within the day, Arshdeep was additionally named within the ICC Males’s T20I Crew of the 12 months led by Rohit Sharma and likewise that includes Pandya and Bumrah as different Indian gamers.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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