Arshdeep Singh (cricketer)

Arshdeep Singh Aulakh (born 5 February 1999) is an Indian professional cricketer who plays for the India national cricket team. In Indian domestic cricket, he plays for Punjab and for Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League. Arshdeep is a left-arm medium-fast bowler. He was an integral member of the Indian team that won the 2024 T20 World Cup, and was the joint-highest wicket taker of the tournament. Singh was also member of the Indian U-19 World cup 2018 winning squad.

Arshdeep made his international debut for the Indian team in July 2022 in a Twenty20 International (T20I) match against England. He bowled a maiden over on debut, becoming just the third Indian bowler to do so on their T20I debut.

Early life
Arshdeep Singh was born on 5 February 1999 in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, in a Punjabi Jatt Sikh family to Darshan Singh and Baljit Kaur. His father was posted to Guna as a member of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) where he worked for more than 25 years. The family later moved to Kharar near Chandigarh. He used to bicycle 13 kilometres from his home to his school, Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, Chandigarh for practice. He started playing gully cricket with neighborhood boys and in 2015 joined Jaswant Rai's cricket academy in Chandigarh. He has an elder brother, Akashdeep Singh, who resides in Brampton and a sister, Gurleen Kaur.

Domestic career
In junior cricket, Arshdeep played in the Katoch Shield tournament. He was part of the Indian under 19 team which won 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and went on to play for the under-23 national side.

In 2018, he played for Punjab's under-23 cricket team in the CK Nayudu Trophy. Playing against Rajasthan under-23s, he took eight wickets, including a hat-trick, in Rajasthan's second inning and 10 wickets in the match. Arshdeep went on to make his List A debut for Punjab in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 19 September 2018 and in January 2019 made his first-class debut against Vidarbha in the 2019–20 Ranji Trophy.

In December 2018, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab in the player auction for the 2019 Indian Premier League. He made his Twenty20 debut for the side on 16 April 2019. He finished as the team's second-highest wicket-taker during the season and was highlighted as a future star player.

In November 2019, Arshdeep was named in India's squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh. In June 2021, he was named as one of five net bowlers for India's tour of Sri Lanka. Following a positive case of COVID-19 in the Indian team, he was added to India's main squad for their final two Twenty20 International (T20I) matches of the tour. In May 2022, he was named in India's T20I squad for their series against South Africa and following month was named in the T20I squad for India's two-match series against Ireland.

In March 2023, Arshdeep agreed to play up to five County Championship matches for Kent County Cricket Club during the 2023 English cricket season.

International career
In June 2022, Arshdeep was named in India's One Day International (ODI) and T20I squads for their tour of England. In July 2022, he was again named in India's ODI squad, this time for their away series against the West Indies. He made his T20I debut on 7 July 2022, playing against England at Southampton, taking the final two England wickets and bowling a rare maiden over on debut.

He took seven wickets in five T20I matches against West Indies and on 8 August 2022 was named in India's squad for the 2022 Asia Cup. In October 2022, he was named in India's squad for the series against South Africa, going on to take five wickets in two T20Is.

In September, Arshdeep was named in India's squad for the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup, In the team's opening match against Pakistan he took a wicket with his first ball, taking 3/32 in his 4 overs. He was India's leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 wickets in six matches with a bowling average of 15.60 runs per wicket.

In November 2022, Arshdeep made his One Day International (ODI) debut against New Zealand at Auckland. He played in all three of the ODIs during the tour but did not take a wicket, although he did take four wickets in the two T20I matches.

In May 2024, he was named in India’s squad for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. During his appearance against United States men's national cricket team, Singh won the 'Player of the Match Award' after taking four wickets conceding just nine runs in four overs. He along with Fazalhaq Farooqi currently holds the record for the highest number of wickets in a single edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup taking 17 wickets in the 2024 edition.