Arshdeep Singh wants to be a three-format international. He has played 18 ODIs and 91 T20Is but is yet to make his Test debut. A busy white-ball schedule has meant that he had to wait a year between his 22nd and 23rd first-class match. Arshdeep came into the quarter-final of the 2026 Duleep Trophy wanting to test if he could keep up with the demands of four-day cricket and took 3 for 53 and 1 for 40 in North Zone's 52-run win against West Zone at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
"Very rarely I get the chance to play red ball cricket," Arshdeep said after the game. "And this was a chance. I wanted to showcase my skill set and just see how many overs I can bowl. The rhythm feels nice. After a long time, I was playing a red-ball game. I put in a lot of hours in practice and it felt nice. The body is sore, but it's a good sore because we got the win."
While Arshdeep had to ramp up his preparations for bowling with the red ball, he also enjoyed the second chances that this form of cricket provides.
"[Deciding whether to practice with the red ball or the white ball] depends on what's coming," Arshdeep said. "This time around, I knew Duleep Trophy was coming, I was practicing with red ball. When white-ball season is coming, then you practice with the white ball. It's very specific training [based on] what kind of season is coming in front of you.
"Ajay Sharma, our head coach, just told me that 'even if you don't get wickets with the new ball, you have a chance to come back in second spell'. Red ball has that beauty of giving you a chance again."
Arshdeep had played five County Championship games for Kent in 2023. The message he has received from the BCCI is to "perform wherever you can" in red-ball cricket, "and when the time is right, you'll get a chance."
"Whenever you get a chance, whenever there is a time frame you can go there [to England to play county cricket] , that is a really good experience," Arshdeep said, "but now, with the IPL, the white-ball season at home, and domestic cricket also going on, you can't go play county. There are crucial games getting played here. We want to push our domestic cricket as well and make sure the level doesn't drop down. We all choose to play here and give our best."
He did get overcast conditions against West Zone, but that's where the similarities in conditions between Bengaluru and England ended. Spinners got more assistance from the red-soil pitch and Arshdeep had to adjust his tactics.
"On wickets like this, you just have to play with the mind. Sometimes you get success, sometimes you get hit for across-the-line six as well. So you got to take both and just keep trying."
Try he did, and it came off spectacularly to dismiss Musheer Khan in the first innings. Musheer was stonewalling, unbeaten on 31 off 125, when Arshdeep switched to around the wicket and packed the in-field on the off side. There was a wide slip, gully, short mid-off, short cover and cover slightly back. With that overwhelming visual, he went into the pitch and got extra bounce to nick off Musheer.
"There was nothing for seamers in that wicket," Arshdeep said. "It was all spinners dominating. I just wanted to play with his [Musheer's] mind. He was playing very defensively, so we just wanted the fielders to be in front of his eyes, let him think that we're doing something different. But we kept hitting the same line, same lengths, and he pushed at one and got out.
"When you have purchase from the wicket, when they seam, when they swing, that's when you stay patient, that's when you just keep hitting lengths. When it's a different wicket, when there's nothing off the pitch and just variable bounce, you just got to play with the field and try out different things.
"As we saw, in West Zone's second innings [with the ball], no pacer got [a] wicket. But we kept playing with plans, me and Sunil [Kumar] all got one wicket each [in the fourth innings]. That was a handy contribution I feel, in the context of the game, because our spinners also needed some support from other ends."
Things didn't look as rosy last evening when Musheer and Ruturaj Gaikwad compiled a 111-run stand for the fourth wicket. Arshdeep didn't mind admitting that he felt the game had slipped. "Then I was thinking 'Sher e Punjab [lion of Punjab] [time to go] back home', and what time ticket should I get booked."
The turnaround came in the 45th over when Gaikwad was run out thanks to sharp work from Kanhaiya Wadhawan, North Zone's wicketkeeper and captain. West Zone slumped from 195 for 3 to 222 all out in their chase of 287.
"But being present in the field, the run-out we got, credit goes to Wadhawan for that run-out [for] staying present in the moment. We always knew that whenever the partnership gets broken, there's always a chance when a new batter comes in. We wanted to stay in the game, just be patient and that wicket came and after that it changed."