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Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh entered the 2026 Duleep Trophy quarter-final looking to test his four-day cricket fitness and delivered with figures of 3/53 and 1/40 in North Zone's 52-run win over West Zone in Bengaluru.
He expressed his satisfaction at getting a rare opportunity to play red-ball cricket, saying the match allowed him to test his skills, build his bowling rhythm and assess how many overs he could handle. After putting in significant work in training, the pacer was pleased with his performance and said the soreness he felt after the game was a positive sign, especially after contributing to a winning effort. "Very rarely I get the chance to play red ball cricket. And this was a chance. I wanted to showcase my skill set and just see how many overs I can bowl. The rhythm feels nice. After a long time, I was playing a red-ball game. I put in a lot of hours in practice, and it felt nice. The body is sore, but it's a good sore because we got the win," Arshdeep Singh said, as per Cricinfo. The left-arm seamer stressed that his training is largely dictated by the format ahead, focusing on red-ball practice before the Duleep Trophy and switching to white-ball preparation ahead of limited-overs cricket. "Deciding whether to practice with the red ball or the white ball] depends on what's coming," Arshdeep said. "This time around, I knew the Duleep Trophy was coming, I was practising with the red ball. When white-ball season is coming, then you practice with the white ball. It's very specific training [based on] what kind of season is coming in front of you," he said. He has represented India in 18 ODIs and 91 T20Is but is yet to make his Test debut. The left-arm pacer has taken 30 wickets in ODIs and 135 wickets in T20Is. He is also India's leading wicket-taker in T20Is, with Jasprit Bumrah second on the list with 121 wickets. (ANI)
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