There was a collective gasp around Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The ones unable to lend an ear to Suryakumar Yadav's words at the toss were lucky; the ones who could were not so much.

They made hasty attempts at scanning through the internet for confirmation. Puzzled faces wanted an answer.

"Shami khelchhe na? (Is Shami not playing?)" Asked a young man in his mid-30s in Bengali. "Surya toh bollo khelchhe na (Surya said he isn't)," replied a middle-aged man next to him. They didn't know each other, but the shock of not seeing Mohammed Shami in India's playing XI for the series opener against England acted as an uncomfortable icebreaker. Needless to say, they were not the only ones in disbelief. After all, Shami's comeback was the biggest story in the lead-up to this T20I series. He even got the loudest cheers in the warm-up sessions barely 20 minutes ago. The heavy strapping on his knees was a concern, of course, but Shami had shown every sign possible of a much-awaited comeback after 14 months. Mind you, these five T20Is were supposed to be Shami's crack at gaining match practice before the Champions Trophy.

However, making all cricket nerds appear clueless, the Indian think tank, headed by coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav, decided to further delay Shami's return.

The disbelief of not seeing their local boy in action had now given way to annoyance. "The pitch has some grass. How can they not play Shami and go with just one pacer?" asked a school student wearing an Indian jersey with Surya written on the back.

His guess was as good as any of the experts. The general mood at the Eden Gardens stayed like this for a good 25 minutes before Arshdeep Singh delivered the first ball of the match. Arshdeep, the lone specialist pacer in India's XI for Wednesday's match, got one to shape in to England opener Phil Salt. It was accompanied by an awkward bounce. Salt was rapped on the thigh pad.

Arshdeep chose to play with the angles. His next slanted away from Salt. It was punched straight to the point fielder. The third ball had a similar shape, but the left-arm pacer had put in more effort and pulled his length back ever so slightly. The Eden pitch did the rest. It once again reared up from a length and caught Salt into a tangle. He skied it. The 60000-plus crowd waited with bated breath till it landed in Sanju Samson's gloves before letting out a euphoric roar.

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"Darun ball (Fantastic delivery)!" screamed Nabarun Chatterjee, who had to take a half day to catch the match. And Arshdeep took it upon himself to ensure his visit was worth it. He got another one to bounce from a length in his third over to induce a false shot from Ben Duckett and gave India their second wicket.

"Arshdeep bol raha hai 'Bumrah nahi hai toh kya hua, magar main hoon'," said a young girl to her father. The spring in her steps could give Arshdeep a run for his money. Moments later, the DJ announced that Arshdeep had broken Yuzvendra Chahal's record to become India's leading wicket-taker (97) in T20Is.

Arshdeep makes Eden his own

The man from Punjab was the toast of the Bengalis now.

Seeing the crowd go crazy, the 25-year-old broke into an impromptu bhangra after three magical overs with the new ball. The crowd in front of the K and J blocks joined in. The disappointment of not seeing Bumrah and the question marks over Shami's absence seemed like a distant past. Arshdeep had dragged the capacity crowd out of their slumber.

For seven-year-old Dhruv (name changed) and his two brothers, fun had just started. They screamed Arshdeep's name at the top of their voices, trying to draw the left-arm pacer's attention. The shouting continued for the next two overs. "Ek baar toh peche dekh lo, please Arshdeep (Please turn around, Arshdeep)," they pleaded. Arshdeep, for his part, was busy drawing captain Surya's attention. A ball later, Buttler would cream on off his hips and Arshdeep would make a swift dash to his right, dive and save a boundary.

The cheering continued from the K and J blocks. The Bharat Army members gave the dhol a good beating. Was it to make Arshdeep break into another bhangra? One would never know.

Meanwhile, Varun Chakarvarthy, Axar Patel, and Ravi Bishnoi were not ready to let Arshdeep enjoy the limelight alone. They stifled England and slowly choked them to 132 all out in 20 overs.

"Looks like the match will finish early. Can we catch the last metro?" the conversations during the break had taken another turn. The last metro on blue line crosses Esplanade - the nearest station to the stadium - at around 10:50 pm. Surely Abhishek Sharma would not have any idea about it but by blasting a 20-ball half-century, he not only gave the Kolkata crowd another reason to celebrate an untimely Diwali but also made sure many of them reached home before midnight.