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Pacer Arshdeep Singh once again proved his worth after his spell helped Punjab Kings defeat Kolkata Knight Riders, in their campaign opener of IPL 2023 on Saturday. Playing in Mohali, PBKS posted a whopping total of 191/5 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first. Later, KKR were batting at 146/7 in 16 overs when the remainder of the match got called off due to heavy rain and PBKS were declared as winners by 7 runs (DLS method). Out of the seven wickets that fell for KKR, three were scalped by Arshdeep, which included the likes of Mandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, and Venkatesh Iyer. However, the 23-year-old pacer not only made headlines for his exceptional bowling but also for the strange send-off, which he gave to Roy after dismissing him.
In the 2nd over of KKR’s chase, Arshdeep bowled a short delivery to Roy, to which the batter played a shot but failed to time it correctly. Resulting which, the ball landed safely into the hands of Sikandar Raza at the mid-wicket and Roy had to depart for 4. As Roy was making his way back to the dugout, Arshdeep was seen giving a death stare to the KKR batter.
After the match, Arshdeep opened up on his reaction and told Star Sports, “He (Anukul Roy) was my batch mate in under-19 cricket. He started to hit me straightaway so I wanted to show aggression. He was also showing aggression so my aggression also came out a bit. Players are expecting that I will bowl yorkers so I tried to surprise them a bit by bowling bouncers.”
“There was some rain around so the wicket had become skiddy, so I was using making use of the conditions on offer. I am enjoying myself and the atmosphere in the dressing room is very good. Going ahead, we will try to keep enjoying and keep winning games for our side,” he added.
Coming to the match, Punjab Kings’ costliest recruit Sam Curran dismissed the dangerous Andre Russell at the nick of time to ensure a seven-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-hit afternoon encounter of Indian Premier League in Mohali on Saturday.
Chasing a target of 192, KKR were left stranded at 146 for 7 after 16 overs when heavy downpour put spanner on their hard work. The DLS par score at that time was 153.
Had KKR not lost Russell (35 off 19 balls), who was looking to walk away with the game and then Venkatesh Iyer to Arshdeep Singh in the next over, the par score would have been lower before heavens opened up.
The two wickets in the 15th and 16th over proved to be decisive as KKR needed 46 off 24 balls at that stage with Shardul Thakur (8 not out) and Sunil Narine (7 not out) were at the crease.
(With PTI Inputs)
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