Sanju Samson's maiden century backed by Arshdeeep Singh's brilliant bowling performance propelled India to a dominant victory over South Africa in the ODI series decider at Boland Park in Paarl on Thursday, December 21.
India posted a formidable total of 296 runs on the board and successfully defended it, clinching the ODI series 2-1. This marked only the second time that the Asian side emerged triumphant in a bilateral series in the 50-over format in South Africa.
KL Rahul became only the second Indian captain after Virat Kohli in 2018, to lead the team to a bilateral ODI series victory in South Africa.
Arshdeep Singh credits IPL behind his top performance
Arshdeep Singh made his ODI debut against New Zealand in 2022 and played 3 ODIs but he failed to pick any wicket during that series. He made a return to India's ODI squad for the South Africa series and ended the 3-match ODI series with 10 wickets to his name which included a fifer in the first ODI.
After winning the Player of the Series, Arshdeep Singh credited IPL for his performance and said, "IPL has been a very good platform for us youngsters, there isn’t a big gap between IPL and international cricket. You understand the mindset of international cricketers and it helps."
For the unversed, Arshdeep Singh plays for Punjab Kings in IPL and has picked up 57 wickets in 51 IPL games with an impressive average of 27.14.