Arshdeep Singh doesn’t quite look like a reliable T20 bowler for India at the moment. The fact that the Indian team management didn’t consider him for several matches in the recently held World Cup only reinforces the sense that the Punjab pacer is losing his way.
His forgettable outing (1/68) against the Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday (April 28) night once again underlined that he isn’t bowling at his best.
Right now, he appears erratic and short on clarity – especially during the powerplay and the slog overs. The left-arm pacer from Punjab has been dishing out too many full tosses, almost as if he’s serving up six-hitting practice for the opposition. Even his slower bouncers, which should be a variation, are arriving too predictably and getting dispatched over the boundary with ease.
Against the Rajasthan Royals, Arshdeep Singh returned figures of 4 overs for 68 runs-an economy rate of a staggering 17. Across eight matches in the tournament so far, he has just eight wickets while conceding at over 10 runs per over, numbers that underline his struggles.
More worrying is his lack of control, he hasn’t consistently hit the right areas, rarely managing to bowl a disciplined line on either side of the wicket. In fact, the running joke is that his captain, Shreyas Iyer, would need the entire fielding unit tied to the boundary ropes just to contain the damage when Arshdeep is bowling.
It’s actually tough to relate this version of Arshdeep Singh to the bowler who burst onto the scene in 2022 and quickly became India’s go-to option in the death overs. Back then, he looked assured, composed, and clear in his plans.
There was a school of thought that his rapid rise also reflected a larger gap in India’s pace attack, which allowed him to become a mainstay in the T20I setup rather quickly. But four years on, the contrast is stark – Arshdeep now looks like a bowler who has lost his rhythm and, more importantly, his direction.
At the moment, he seems to be searching for answers, almost as if he needs to go back to the drawing board and rebuild from scratch. Most importantly, someone needs to tell Arshdeep Singh that Punjab Kings lost their opening match of the 2026 season with him being one of the contributing factors.