‘We had planned how to keep things tight’: Arshdeep reveals India’s game plan for Shai Hope

India had a clear plan to stop West Indies captain Shai Hope, who had been in excellent form throughout the ODI and T20I series and left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh was happy to see the plan work in the third T20I in Indore on Sunday. Hope had scored two consecutive centuries in the ODI series before hitting a half-century in the first T20I and an unbeaten 102 in the second, however, he managed only five runs before Arshdeep dismissed him in the second over.

India restricted the West Indies to 209/7 while defending a target of 224, securing a 14-run win and taking a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Arshdeep played a key role with three wickets, dismissing Hope, Sherfane Rutherford and Keemo Paul.

“Before the match, we had planned how to keep things tight to him and when you execute that plan in the match, it feels good when you get the result. I am grateful to the coaches for working through the plan and they told me that I can use this in the match and that thing got executed,” Arshdeep said in a video posted on BCCI.tv on Monday.

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The pacer praised the entire bowling unit for maintaining pressure while defending a big total. India bounced back after the West Indies chased down 250 in the previous match.

“I bowled very well. Mayank kept the pressure from the other end and all the six bowlers, all chipped in and bowled very well. It feels good when you get a little pressure for executing plans. So, it’s good fun,” he said.

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Arshdeep also apologised to Axar Patel for the mix-up in the middle that led to the all-rounder’s run-out.

“I would like to apologise to Axar bhai. Sorry, Axar bhai. I got you run out,” he said.

The left-arm pacer also spoke about his efforts to improve his batting and contribute useful runs lower down the order.

“I keep trying in batting. The results are rare. But today, it just connected well. As much as the coaches trust us, we have to do it in batting as well and get a few runs down the order. So it is important to work like this in batting,” he added.