India's emerging left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh is on the cusp of scaling a remarkable milestone in T20 internationals - a record that will see him surpass the Indian pace spearhead and Jasprit Bumrah. Arshdeep has carried his Indian Premier League form into T20Is and done a commendable job for the country in the shortest format of the game.
The 24-year-old pacer has already claimed 48 scalps in 31 T20I games at a strike rate of 8.52, including a four-wicket haul (4/37) and is just two wickets away from becoming the fastest India pacer to snare 50 T20I wickets. His captain on the forthcoming Ireland tour, Bumrah currently holds the record for being the fastest India seamer to 50 wickets in the shortest format and achieved the milestone in the 41st game of his T20I career.
With three T20I matches to be played in India's tour of Ireland starting August 18, it is highly likely that Arshdeep will break Bumrah's elusive record. At this moment, only two seamers have grabbed more than 50 scalps in T20I cricket - Bumrah (70) and Hardik Pandya (73).
There are a total of seven Indians who have picked up more than 50 wickets in T20Is, with Yuzvendra Chahal (96) atop. Chahal is not a part of India's squad for the three-match series in Ireland and hence will have to wait to achieve the feat of becoming the first Indian men's cricketer to have 100 T20I wickets to his credit.
India will square off against Ireland in the first T20I of the series on Friday, August 18 in Dublin, whereas the 2nd and the 3rd T20I will be played on Sunday, August 20 and Wednesday, August 23. All eyes will be on Bumrah's fitness who is making a comeback after an extended injury lay-off.