Team India began the five-match T20I series against England with a commanding seven-wicket victory in Kolkata on Wednesday, January 22. Varun Chakravarthy, for his stunning spell of 3/23, was declared the Player of the Match as well. However, former Pakistan cricketer Basit
Ali disagrees with that as well.

On his YouTube channel ‘Basit Ali,’ he heaped praise on India pacer Arshdeep Singh for his stunning show. Abhishek Sharma also scored a quickfire 79 off 34 balls, while Varun picked up three wickets. However, Basit named Arshdeep as his choice for the Player of the Match as well.

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“Who should be the Man of the Match? Abhishek Sharma? Or Varun? My Man of the Match is Arshdeep. He bulldozed the batting with his dismissals at the top. He finished the match in three overs. There was the need of a sixth bowler for India. Today all the pluses were ticked in bowling except Pandya. All got ticked in batting as well except Surya,” he further added.

Team India put up a great show with the ball in the opening T20I against England. He also hailed India’s bowlers for their spells. While he lauded all the bowlers, he said that Arshdeep Singh was the best despite him picking only two wickets.

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“Varun’s (Chakravarthy) bowling was too good. He took three wickets. But in my view, Arshdeep bowled the best although he took two wickets. Bishnoi bowled well. Four overs 22 runs. No wickets but he bowled well. Why Axar bowled well was because he gave 15 runs in one over but the way he cameback after that, especially with the ball getting wet,” he said.