Was thinking that I gave too many runs and would be culprit of the game: Arshdeep Singh

Bengaluru, Dec 4 (IANS) After India won the fifth T20I over Australia by six runs, left-arm fast-bowler Arshdeep Singh said he was thinking that too many runs were conceded by him and admitted to thoughts of being the culprit of the game came in his mind, before conceding only three runs in the final over of the game.

At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday night, the pitch wasn’t easy for stroke-play as India made 160/8. In reply, Australia began strongly, before being reduced to 144/7 in 18 overs.

Needing 17 runs from 12 balls, Mukesh Kumar gave away only nine runs in the 19th over, before Arshdeep, who had given away 37 runs in his first three overs, found his accuracy and rhythm to take out Matthew Wade and seal the game in India’s favour.

"I guess for the big part of the game, for almost the first 19 overs, I was thinking that I gave away too many runs and would be the culprit of the game. But god gave me another chance and I believed in myself. Thanks to god that I defended it and thanks to the staff as well who believed in me," said Arshdeep to broadcasters after the match ended.

He also acknowledged the extra runs cushion given by the batters in the first innings. "To be honest, nothing was going through my mind. Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) bhai told me that whatever happens, happens. The credit goes to our batsmen as well. They gave us a really good total here on a tricky wicket and we had a cushion of an extra 15 to 20 runs."

Arshdeep also pointed out that despite the win, the Indian fast-bowling unit wasn’t at their best and will try to put up a better show in the coming games. "According to the standards we have set as a bowling unit in the Indian team, it was not even near par. But a lot of lessons learnt and, in the future, I will make sure to rectify those mistakes and come back stronger."

Right-handed batter Shreyas Iyer, whose 37-ball 53 took India to a winning total, was also in praise of Arshdeep’s final over and believed the pitch was a challenging one to bat on. "I'm elated to be honest to see everyone chipping in and contributing for the team. The shots, innovation has been on point and I could see Arshdeep's calmness when he was bowling the last over."

"To be honest, my mindset was to go boom-boom from ball one. But when I saw three wickets falling down, my mind started calculating what would be the best total on this wicket. Then I had a few batsmen contributing as well. It wasn't an easy wicket to bat on, but if you have a total in mind, you try to play accordingly and today was the right example of how we did it as a team."

"I feel 160 was the right total, which we got eventually. After losing consecutive wickets in the powerplay to get to 160, it was a commendable effort, and to defend it at the same time, brilliant performance by the team."

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