Arshdeep Singh Soars Past Shami, Bumrah, Zaheer Khan After Heroics In South Africa ODIs

Arshdeep Singh celebrating a South African wicket in third ODI (AP)

Arshdeep Singh picked up four South African wickets in India’s emphatic series-clinching 78-run win at Paarl’s Boland Park. The speedster removed both Proteas openers, Reeza Hendricks and Tony de Zorzi, before mopping up the tail in one of his return spells later in the game.

Through the course of his match-winning spell, Arshdeep extended his series tally to 10 wickets, thus fittingly bagging the ‘Player of the Series’ award to cap a remarkable comeback to India’s ODI setup after Asia Cup and World Cup 2023 snubs.

Remarkably, the 24-year-old also toppled Indian pace veterans Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and 2011 World Cup winner Zaheer Khan for a huge bowling record through his series-winning performance against South Africa.

Arshdeep Singh topples Shami, Bumrah for this record

Arshdeep Singh, having made his ODI debut back in November 2022 in New Zealand, went wicketless in the entire three-match series against the ‘Black Caps’. The left-arm fast bowler received another call-up to India’s ODI setup more than a year later for a series in South Africa, after a number of senior Indian players had opted themselves out of the squad citing fatigue.

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Arshdeep celebrated his comeback to the format with a sizzling five-wicket haul at Johannesburg, which also marked his first set of ODI career wickets and his maiden five-fer across all international formats. After picking just one wicket in India’s subsequent fixture at Port Elizabeth, he returned back to his groove with yet another match-winning performance, this time sinking the Proteas with a sensational four-wicket haul to take his series tally to 10 wickets.

Interestingly, his overall series haul took him past the likes of former cricketer Zaheer Khan and active pace stalwarts Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah in terms of taking most wickets against South Africa in South Africa in a single ODI series. Here is an updated list of top five Indian bowlers with most Proteas wickets from a single bilateral ODI series in South Africa:

Arshdeep Singh also starred in India’s series-levelling performance against South Africa in a T20I in Johannesburg on December 14. He will be soon be taking a flight back to India, as the two teams will now engage in a two-match Test series.

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