On a balmy late Sunday evening, Arshdeep Singh did what he does best — swing it in favour of Punjab Kings with three top-order wickets against Lucknow Super Giants. And he doesn’t want to look too far ahead as staying in the present has yielded rich dividends for him. “I am just enjoying the present. We are just taking it day by day,” Arshdeep said after his 3 for 16 stopped LSG on its tracks during a tough chase of 237 in an IPL match.
Arshdeep has now taken 16 wickets from 11 games and is third in the leading wicket-takers’ list behind Prasidh Krishna (19 wickets) and Josh Hazlewood (18 wickets) this season.
“For a change, there was movement in the starting overs. I really enjoyed it. In the second innings, it gets colder and the temperature drops down and it swings a bit,” Arshadeep spoke about the high-altitude venue on the lap of the spectacular Dhauladhar mountain range.
Arshdeep is happy that he could account for all three in-form batters of LSG in Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran inside the Powerplay.
“I was just watching him (Nehal Wadhera’s catch to dismiss Marsh) run to the ball. I was praying ‘just catch it’ because you know Mitch is a very dangerous player when he gets in and gets going. So, we had to take that early wicket. Credit to Nehal for that excellent catch.
“Their top three have been scoring a lot of runs. We thought if we can take their wickets as soon as possible, we will have the upper-hand. The execution was very nice.” Arshdeep’s franchise coach Ricky Ponting feels that the left-arm pacer has progressively got better and has started getting those Powerplay scalps, which he has done for Indian national team in past few seasons.
“I think Arshdeep’s got better and better every game. As this tournament’s gone on, he’s got better and better. I think he’s got more confident. He’s starting to get those powerplay wickets now that we know that he can with that brand new ball,” Ponting said after the match.
The legendary Aussie captain was all praise for Arshdeep’s opening over where he got the ball to jag around.
“I think his first over tonight really set the tone for our bowling innings. It was a fantastic first over. The ball bounced and moved around, so, you know, he’s a star, no doubt about it, and we’re very lucky to have him in our team,” Ponting added.
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