No Indian has taken more wickets in T20Is than Arshdeep Singh. Among the ten who have taken 50 or more wickets, only Kuldeep Yadav has a better strike-rate than him. Yet Arshdeep was not part of India's first-choice XI in their previous T20I series, the Asia Cup. He played two matches, but only when India's progress had been confirmed.
Even in Australia, Arshdeep was brought into the XI only as an afterthought after India kept him out for the first two games. It comes down to the unfortunate scenario of having four excellent strike bowlers but never being able to play them all at once because none of them can bat. It was the issue with Virat Kohli's ODI side as well when they just couldn't afford to play Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal all in the same XI. Arshdeep and Varun Chakravarthy have taken the places of Shami and Chahal in this T20I squad, but the problem remains the same.
Even so, if there are any conditions where India need to play both Bumrah and Arshdeep, they are the ones in early-season Australia. It was surprising that it took India till the third match to bring the left-arm quick in.
That they immediately had to leave Kuldeep out for Washington Sundar tells you about the balancing act India are forced to carry out. At the same time, Arshdeep immediately showed why he is such an important player in conditions that have a little bit of assistance for fast bowlers.
In a match that largely followed T20 rhythms, the first four overs of Australia's innings, in which they scored just 24 runs for the loss of Travis Head and Josh Inglis, proved to be all the difference. India scored 41 in their first four, and eventually had nine balls to spare when they overhauled the total Australia set them.
In those four overs, Arshdeep took the wickets of Head and Inglis, aided in part by the threat posed by Bumrah at the other end. Arshdeep has the ingredients to use the conditions: he swings the ball both ways, and his high release aids seam movement and uneven bounce. In a game of such small margins as T20 cricket, these overs can have a huge impact. Arshdeep also returned at the end to team up with Bumrah and deny Australia a finishing kick.
India again needed all of it because they did make a small selection error. Bringing in Arshdeep and Jitesh Sharma - the latter for Sanju Samson, who has not looked effective in the middle order - was spot on, but they still left themselves short on fast bowling by dropping Harshit Rana for Washington, whom they didn't bowl at all because of a combination of the conditions and the abundance of right-hand batters in the Australia line-up.
Shivam Dube and Abhishek Sharma had to fill in with four overs for 56, but in the end Washington also showed his importance with an unbeaten 49 off 23 when promoted to No. 6. That's also the thing with Washington. He is wasted as a batter in the lower order when you mostly have to just walk in and swing.
This match was evidence that there is no dearth of resources for Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir, but in conditions where the ideal line-up consists of three fast bowlers, they are always one small piece short of being the perfect team.