In the tricky run chase of 166 in Chennai, Arshdeep Singh walked out to bat at no.9. He needed to play the supporting role for Tilak Varma but got out in an attempt to slog sweep Adil Rashid on the final ball of his spell. When the camera focused on Indian dugout, head coach Gautam Gambhir was visibly upset at what Arshdeep had done. After the narrow two-wicket win, the 'Player of the Match', Varma revealed his hilarious conversation with Arshdeep in the middle
"Actually, I was under a lot of pressure. Arshdeep was saying, 'I will hit it. I will hit it. I have to give a single.' So, I thought, on this wicket, Archer can't get you out," Varma told Star Sports after the match. "On this wicket, Adil Rashid will because his ball was moving a lot. I knew that Arshdeep would try to hit the spinner. I said, 'No, bhai.'
"If Arshdeep wanted to play, he should play Archer. He said he wouldn't play Archer, so I said, 'Okay, I will play.' I told him to be ready with his defence. 'Whether you get a bouncer or not, you just have to stop him. If you see him behind, bend down.' So, I don't know what he did. He said, 'If I get a bouncer, I will hit him from above.' He said a lot of things. But whatever happened, I am happy that he got a boundary off Archer."
Varma lauds Bishnoi's heroics
Arshdeep managed to get a boundary off Jofra Archer as the edge went to fine for the fielder to cut it off. He departed on the last ball of the 17th over. However, after Arshdeep's wicket, Ravi Bishnoi shared an unbeaten partnership with Varma which took India over the line. Varma lauded Bishnoi for the flick shot. He got two crucial fours in the run chase.
"And the best thing to see was Ravi Bishnoi's batting. He has done a very good job in nets. He and Varun Chakravarthy did a very good job in batting. I had a lot of faith in both of them that they could play. I told them, 'If you want to hit, you have to hit in the gaps. If you get a single, there is no problem. If you want to bend down on the bouncer, you have to play like Test cricket.' So, actually, Ravi Bishnoi played well. If you see, he hit a flick from the front. A lot of credit goes to him too. Actually, those two fours were very important," said the 22-year-old.
The youngster scored 72 runs from 55 balls including four fours and five sixes. He finished the run chase with four balls to spare with a boundary off Jamie Overton.