Key Points

Arshdeep has been infused into India's Test squad ahead of Harshit Rana and Mohammed Shami for India's first assignment of the new World Test Championship cycle. The left-armer, who has formed a revamped bowling quartet alongside Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj, has been testing India batters during the nets session while trying to find his rhythm.

During the recent session, he bowled against the newly crowned Test captain, Shubman Gill, and young Sai Sudharsan, a challenge he relished and hopes to continue with for a long time.

"There was a lot of competitiveness with the batters. We enjoyed it. As bowlers, we had to grind and make proper plans to get the batter out. Sai, who has joined the team for the first time, looked compact. The skipper looked in good touch. I will try the banter keeps on going, and I dismiss them a lot of times," Arshdeep said in a video posted by the BCCI.

For the 26-year-old, the motive was to bring the body back to rhythm according to the demands of the Test format after an elongated patch in white-ball cricket.

"The main motive was to bring the body to rhythm. To get a feel of how the red ball was coming out of the hand, because a lot of players were playing white-ball cricket for a long time. As we go ahead, the intensity will increase, and we will try to make it hard for batters to face the ball," he added.

A sense of familiarity surrounds Arshdeep, considering his past exploits in the County Championship. After a 17-wicket campaign in the IPL 2023, he signed for Kent and scalped 13 wickets from five matches at 41.76.

With the backdrop of his past stint, Arsdeep is in line to earn his maiden cap and bowl alongside the current "best in the world", Jasprit Bumrah. While the feeling of being the best continues to exist within him, Arsdeep doesn't want to stray away from the main objective: improving each other's skills.

"Whenever I pick up the ball, I feel I am the best. But when a player like Jasprit Bumrah plays in an attack, there is no room for comparison. The main focus is improving each other's skill set and helping the team," he said.

India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.

- ANI