Arshdeep swings it Kings' way, grabs three key wickets at the death
MUMBAI: It's not often easy to silence a 35,000-strong partisan crowd, rooting for the Mumbai Indians on a Saturday night at the Wankhede Stadium, but a sensational final over by Arshdeep Singh, in which he broke the stumps twice in two balls with lethal yorkers, managed to do that to fashion a thrilling 13-run win for the Punjab Kings.
With Tim David (25 not out, 13b, 2x6) on song, MI were the favourites, needing 16 off the final over when Arshdeep came on to bowl. However, the India left-arm seamer shattered the middle sticks of Tilak Varma (3) and 'impact player' Nehal Wadhera (0) off his third and fourth balls to seal the fate of the match, with the wounded hosts left to get 15 off 2 balls and a stunned crowd already making its way out of the stadium.
Conceding just 2 runs in his match-winning last over, Arshdeep, who had earlier taken the key wickets of Ishan Kishan (1) and a rampaging Suryakumar Yadav (57, 26b, 7x4, 3x6) finished with fabulous figures of 4-29 in 4 overs to emerge as the standout bowler by far on a wicket where every other bowler went for plenty.
1/10:IPL 2023: Punjab Kings edge out Mumbai Indians
ANI
2/10:13-run victory
<p>Punjab Kings were back to winning ways with a 13-run victory over Mumbai Indians in a high-scoring entertainer in Mumbai on Saturday. </p>AFP
3/10:Arshdeep Singh
<p>Death overs specialist Arshdeep Singh shattered stumps at will in a tense final over to return with figures of 4-0-29-4. </p>AFP
4/10:Top billing
<p>Sam Curran justified his top billing with a splendid 29-ball-55 as Punjab Kings lifted themselves from a precarious position to post a commendable 214/8. </p>AFP
5/10:Curran carnage
<p>Curran's 92-run stand for the eighth wicket with Harpreet Bhatia (41) changed the course of the game with 131 runs coming in the back-10. </p>AFP
6/10:Arjun Tendulkar
<p>Arjun Tendulkar (1/48 in 3 overs) had a good opening spell but went for 31 in his third over as 69 runs were yielded between overs 16-18. </p>AFP
7/10:Cameron Green
<p>Jofra Archer and Cameron Green went for 13 and 25 respectively in the 17th and 18th over.</p>IANS
8/10:Curran fifty
<p>Curran hit his first fifty of IPL this season and Bhatia made a 28-ball 41 while adding 92 runs from 50 balls for the fifth wicket to power Punjab. </p>AP
9/10:Mumbai rocked
<p>Mumbai were also rocked early by Arshdeep, who had Ishan Kishan (1) caught by Matthew Short for his 50th IPL wicket. </p>PTI
10/10:MI charge
<p>Rohit Sharma and Green fuelled MI's charge in the remainder of the powerplay, taking them to 54/1 after six overs with a 76-run stand for the second wicket. </p>AFPChasing 215, MI were kept in the hunt by power-packed knocks by Aussie allrounder Cameron Green (67, 43b, 6x4,3x6), 'Sky', who blazed away to a 23-ball fifty, skipper Rohit Sharma (44, 27b, 4x4, 3x6), and Tim David, who was denied strike in the climax. However, the Punjab Kings kept their nerves, holding some stunning catches and fielding as if their lives depended upon it.
Green put on a blazing 76-run stand in just 50 balls for the second wicket with Rohit, before the latter threw it all away, spooning a ball back to part-time off-spinner Liam Livingstone. The big allrounder then added 75 in just 36 balls for the third wicket with Surya.
Earlier, at one point, when they had slipped to 83 for 4 in the 10th over after being asked to take first strike, Kings looked like they would tamely surrender against the hosts. However, led by a magnificent 92-run partnership in just 50 balls for the fifth wicket by stand-in-skipper Sam Curran (55, 28b, 5x4, 4x6) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (41, 28b, 4x4, 32x6), the PBKS staged an incredible fightback to post 214 for 8. What added cherry to the visitor's cake, and took them past 200 was 25-run cameo, which included four sixes off the 7 balls he faced, by Jitesh Sharma.
With the Punjab Kings batsmen going berserk on a belter, the MI bowlers who suffered the maximum were young left-arm seamer Arjun Tendulkar, who was smashed for a record 31 runs (the joint second-most in IPL history in an over) in the 16th over, and Green, who conceded 25 in the 18th over.
Tendulkar's, who had earlier had dismissed Prabhsimran Singh (26, 17b, 1x4, 2x6), sequence of that horrendous over read 6, wide, 4, 1, 4, 6, 5 no balls and 4.
