Arshdeep Singh shines as he dismantles Mumbai's middle order, taking five wickets and leaving them struggling at 61/6

Arshdeep dominated the Mumbai batting line-up by taking the wickets of 5 out of the top 6 players with the new ball. His exceptional opening spell set the tone for Punjab as he removed both openers and key middle-order batsmen, putting his team in a commanding position in the contest.

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.

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