Team India left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh is currently honing his skills in England's County Cricket Championship. He is playing for Kent and getting some much-needed red ball experience.
Kent are currently playing Northamptonshire in the County Championship Division One and Arshdeep has already made his mark.
Northamptonshire won the toss and opted to bat first. Arshdeep was given the new ball as he bowled the first over, and he began with a maiden.
After Northamptonshire lost their first wicket in the fourth over, Arshdeep struck in Noethamptonshire's fifth and his third over to dismiss Emilio Gay. It was a great delivery as he got the delivery to land in the channel of uncertainty.
Then, in his sixth over, he struck once again, this time to dismiss opposition skipper Luke Procter, who once again edged it to the wicket-keeper.
It was a fantastic seven-over opening spell from Arshdeep, who conceded just 21 runs and claimed two wickets.
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Will Arshdeep Singh make it into the Indian Test team?
If Arshdeep continues to perform well during his County stint, the selectors could rope in him for a future assignment and try him out in India's Test team.
Since Zaheer Khan's retirement, India haven't been able to find a reliable left-arm quick for Test cricket. Although Arshdeep has done pretty well for India in T20Is, he is yet to convince the selectors of his potential in the longer formats of the game.
What works in Arshdeep's favour, though, is that he is a quick learner and is very young. At 24, he is yet to enter his prime and could very well become a key player for India in all three formats.
He has that ability to play Test cricket. He can get the ball to swing both ways and can easily bowl above 135 km/h. During his new ball spell against Northamptonshire, he consistently bowled a probing fifth stump line and beat the edge on several occasions. He has shown that he can be a handy customer in red ball cricket.
One can only hope for the Punjab pacer to continue his good form in the UK and give India another option in Tests as they eye to put behind the disappointment of losing two consecutive WTC Finals.
