India's left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh on January 22 scripted history at Eden Gardens, Kolkata as he surpassed out-of-favour leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to become country's highest wicket-taker in T20Is. Arshdeep achieved the feat in his 61st T20I with the wickets of England openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett with the new ball. Duckett became Arshdeep's 97th victim in T20Is.
Meanwhile, Arshdeep is on his way to become the fastest pacer to 100 T20I wickets. The record currently belongs to Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf who achieved the milestone from 71 T20Is. He can become the third-fastest overall as Wanindu Hasaranga did it in his 63rd T20I. The top spot belongs to Afghanistan's Rashid Khan (53 T20Is) followed by Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane (54 T20Is).
How Arshdeep fared in powerplay overs
After Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to bowl first in the series opener, Arshdeep struck with the third ball of the innings. He bowled a short ball. Salt could not time the shot and the leading edge carried to wicketkeeper Sanju Samson. He departed for a three-ball duck.
In his second over, he got the wicket of Duckett with the ball that moved away from the left-handed batter. The leading edge off Duckett's bat was taken by Rinku Singh as he ran outside the 30-yard cricle from covers. The left-handed batter departed after scoring four runs from as many deliveries. In the powerplay overs, Arshdeep was sensational as he bagged two wickets, conceded 10 runs from three overs.
Only speciallist pacer in lineup
Mohammed Shami will have to wait a little more for his comeback to international cricket. Suryakumar picked just one speciallist pacer in the side. He opened the bowling with Hardik Pandya from the other end. The only other pacer in the side is Nitish Kumar Reddy. Suryakumar included three spinners -- Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel.