“Can he bowl six yorkers in six balls?” - Irfan Pathan slams Indian team management for not picking Arshdeep Singh vs UAE

Former Indian all-rounder and commentator Irfan Pathan was disappointed not to see Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI against the UAE in the team’s first game of the Asia Cup 2025 campaign on Wednesday, September 10, in Dubai.

Notably, Arshdeep Singh missed all five games on the England tour in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Moreover, fans didn’t like his absence from the playing XI against the UAE, with Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Shivam Dube being the three pace options.

“Look, Arshdeep is the highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket. If that guy doesn’t play, it’s obvious, he hasn’t played in England either. Okay, that makes sense there, but not playing here brings this scenario to my mind. If it’s a knockout match and Bumrah is bowling from one end, you can say with your eyes closed that he’s your best bowler. But if spin is operating from the other end, that’s fine, because you can handle three spinners and try to survive till the 16th or 17th over; the spin attack keeps coming,” Irfan Pathan said on Sony Sports Network.

Moreover, Pathan observed that if a challenging situation arises in any game, a pacer like Hardik Pandya can’t deal with six yorkers in six balls, which Arshdeep Singh can do as he has experience from the past in the death overs.

“But a situation arose where the ball is getting wet and not gripping. If you only have two fast bowlers, you count Shivam Dube as a medium pacer, but in a difficult situation, you’ll look for Hardik. But is Hardik’s strength bowling yorkers? Can he bowl six yorkers in six balls? His strengths are bowling into the pitch, bowling bouncers, and bowling hard lengths,” he added.

“So if the game gets stuck in such a situation, how do you get out of it? That’s what needs to be seen. On a big field, you can still use bouncers, but when it comes to yorkers, you’ll definitely miss Arshdeep because he’s the kind of bowler we’ve seen in the World Cup, and regularly in T20 cricket, who can bowl yorkers for his team, even six yorkers in six balls. He can absolutely do that,” he concluded.

Team India is expected to rest Kuldeep Yadav, who scalped four wickets against the UAE, to bring in Arshdeep Singh for the much-awaited clash against Pakistan on Sunday, September 14.

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