During last year's T20 World Cup, Sunil Gavaskar was so impressed with Arshdeep Singh that he backed the latter to play in the Test format as well.

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Test debut still awaits the young left-arm quick, but at present he is no longer just a T20 specialist.

Given his consistency with the white ball, Arshdeep has carved out a place for himself in India's ODI scheme of things too as the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee chose him for the three-match series against England followed by the ICC Champions Trophy.

It's not that Arshdeep is new to ODIs. He has featured in eight of them so far, having taken 12 wickets. His best performance in the 50-over format came in South Africa in December 2023, where he finished with 10 wickets in three matches, conceding only 95 runs off 27 overs to play a key role in India's series victory.

Arshdeep had also played in a couple of games during India's last ODI assignment in Sri Lanka in August 2024.

Indifferent form and inconsistency of Mohammed Siraj did become a factor before the selectors got down to finalising India's Champions Trophy squad. But to be fair to Arshdeep, he had pretty much done his job with regular wickets for Punjab in this season's Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Twenty wickets from just seven appearances in the national T20 tournament went a long way in gaining Arshdeep promotion to the 50-over format. What he needs to do now is translate his success in T20s into ODI cricket.

"Arshdeep's consistency aside, he's got a wonderful temperament too, something I have noticed being on two tours with him," former national selector Salil Ankola told The Telegraph on Tuesday. "Yes, bowling in T20s and bowling in one-dayers aren't the same, but what bodes well for Arshdeep is his ability to quickly make the adjustments while bowling long spells.

"Importantly, he's keen to bowl long spells. Arshdeep has got the varieties, so it's for him to take a call on which deliveries he needs to focus on in a 10-over spell."

Former Punjab coach Aavishkar Salvi believes format won't matter much, thanks to Arshdeep's qualities as a pacer and current form. "Well, you've got to look at his overall qualities as a fast bowler.

"He bowls the new ball fast and gets it to swing. With the old ball, he can bowl the slower and yorker in the slog overs. Besides, he has been in the circuit for quite a few years
now and of late has had an impact in almost all the games in domestic cricket, particularly in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He took a fifer against Mumbai in a game where some of the Team India cricketers had also played.

"So, the format becomes irrespective after a point. Given his qualities and the form that he is in at present, it's a good opportunity for him to go out there, express himself and flourish," Salvi, under whose coaching Punjab clinched the 2023-24 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, emphasised.

In that Vijay Hazare game against Mumbai last December in Ahmedabad, Arshdeep finished with 5/38 off his 10 overs with scalps of Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube.

At the same time, with a fair amount of uncertainty still hovering over Jasprit Bumrah's availability in the Champions Trophy and
Mohammed Shami's workload being an important factor, Arshdeep may have a bigger role in looking after India's pace attack.

"For sure, to a fair extent, the responsibility will be on Arshdeep because of the current situation both the senior pacers are in. It also provides him with an opportunity to shine, though," Ankola stated.

"Arshdeep's arrival, his form and qualities give India a good option. That's how I look at it. And as I said, he does well with both the new and old ball, while his execution of the bouncers lately has been spot-on," said Salvi.