India's young speedster Arshdeep Singh was recently included in the Shubman Gill-led Test squad for the five-Test match series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 against England. Despite being named in the squad, Arshdeep was unable to get a chance in the team's playing XI against England.
Despite not featuring in the Indian lineup in England, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) speedster concedes that he spent the past few months soaking in the experience of his teammates. Arshdeep, whose last cricketing outing came in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Punjab Kings (PBKS), believes that he spent a significant time training, keeping himself ready for whenever the opportunity arises.
"When you are not playing, you just try to push your limits. The training is almost the same," he said as quoted by ICC.
"You just put in more work when you are not playing. More overs, more strength work, more training, so that whenever you get the chance, you are ready and fully fit to go," he added.
"I don't know how many thousands of balls I would have bowled in practice. It's not like there was a lack of bowling. I was properly managing my workload. The aim is to stay ready whenever you get a chance," he noted.
India's upcoming assignment will be the Asia Cup, where Arshdeep can be seen leading the pace attack alongside pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
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"Right from the last Test (at The Oval), I had started practising with a white ball. I didn't know that there was a Duleep Trophy match in between," Arshdeep said.
"At the end of the day, red ball, white ball or pink ball, you have to play cricket and try and enjoy it," he noted.
Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled to start from September 9. Defending champions India will start their campaign the next day against the UAE at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai.
India’s squad for Asia Cup: Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel