A remarkable opening burst from Arshdeep Singh saw the Punjab pacer take the wickets of some big Indian international names, as his five-fer helped Punjab restrict a dangerous Mumbai batting order at the ADSA Railways Cricket Ground in Ahmedabad during the Vijay Hazare Trophy contest between the two teams.
Arshdeep took the wickets of 5 of the top 6 in the Mumbai order with the new ball, ensuring Punjab were on top in the contest with a brilliant opening spell which saw him dismiss both openers and much of the middle order.
In an extended seven-over opening spell, Arshdeep was on fire as he dismissed both openers Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ayush Mhatre, the young opening batters perishing cheaply in Arshdeep’s first and second over respectively. Both batters were out LBW.
Hardik Tamore was next to depart in the following over, out to Sanvir Singh, before Arshdeep returned and also took the massive wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, not allowing the experienced pair of SKY and Shreyas Iyer to rebuild the innings by ending the partnership before it had a chance to get going.
Sensing a chance to eliminate Mumbai from the contest early, Punjab captain Abhishek Sharma kept Arshdeep on, and he repaid him by taking the massive wicket of opposing captain Shreyas Iyer, who is Mumbai’s most dangerous batter in the List A format. Arshdeep bowled Shreyas to leave Mumbai in trouble at 28/5.
After a couple of quiet overs in which Shivam Dube and Suryansh Shedge looked to reconstruct the innings, Arshdeep scalped another wicket to achieve his five-fer, dismissing Dube to leave Mumbai reeling at 61/6.
Mumbai recuperate despite early wickets
Mumbai’s lower-middle and lower order showed plenty of fighting spirit the rest of the way, however, last 48.5 overs and managing to put together partnerships to reach 248 despite the horror start. Shedge’s strong form with bat continued as he scored 44, while Atharva Ankolekar top-scored with a solid 66 at number eight. Shardul Thakur also contributed with 43 runs, Mumbai’s depth of all-rounders bailing them out of a tough situation.
Arshdeep finished with figures of 5-38 in his ten-over spell, as Punjab are tasked with chasing down 249 in Ahmedabad. Both teams entered this game having won two matches and lost one, meaning a victory for either side could be decisive in the shape of a tight group C in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
