Arshdeep Singh was on fire against the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians for Punjab Kings in an IPL 2023 game on Saturday. In a high-scoring thriller that went on till the last over, Arshdeep picked four wickets to help his team win by 13 runs. Batting first, PBKS notched a huge total of 214/8, but MI were in the fight till the end. At home at the Wankhede Stadium, MI needed 16 off the last over by Arshdeep with big-hitters Tim David and Tilak Varma at the crease. However, what Arshdeep came up with was nothing short of magical. On the third ball, he broke the middle stump in two pieces with Varma on strike. It was not a fluke, as on the next ball, he broke the middle stump once again with Nehal Wadhera on strike!
Watch: Arshdeep On Wicket-Breaking Spree vs Rohit's MI! Wows All
Talking about the game, after Sam Curran's 29-ball 55 led Punjab Kings to a massive 214 for 8, Mumbai Indians took the game into the final over due to fine counter-attack from Cameron Green (67 off 43 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (57 off 26 balls). The duo added 75 off only 36 balls.
Arshdeep struck a decisive blow in the 18th over to dismiss an on-song Suryakumar with Mumbai needing another 33 from 15 balls, and bowled an impressive final over while accounting for Tilak Varma (3) and Nehal Wadhera (0) to return with figures of 4-0-29-4 However the hosts only managed 201 for 6 as Arshdeep broke the middle-stump in back-to-back deliveries to sent NT Tilak Verma and Nehal Wadhera packing.
On a batting belter, Arshdeep again showed why even Indian team depends on him in T20 games to deliver during the end stages of the game.
Mumbai Indians would agree that Jitesh Sharma's 7-ball-25 towards the end did become the difference although 82 runs conceded by MI bowlers between overs 15-18 was another turning point.
MI did fight well after conceding 117 runs in the last seven overs, but their effort with the bat was not enough to avert a defeat in a game wherein more than 400 runs scored here at the Wankhede Stadium.
For MI, the biggest gain would be Suryakumar's return to form.
With PTI inputs