For an uncapped pacer, Arshdeep Singh has a rather calm head on his shoulders and not to forget the skills to back those ice-cool nerves and ace in some of the most difficult overs in T20 cricket against top-notch ball-strikers. The Punjab Kings left-arm seamer has time and again shown that he is built for the bigger stage. PBKS' last IPL 2022 match was another such example. Chennai Super Kings needed 47 off 24 balls when captain Mayank Agarwal threw the ball to Arshdeep. He had a rampaging Ambati Rayudu, who had just hit a hat-trick of sixes off Sandeep Sharma in the previous over and Ravindra Jadeja to deal with.
The 23-year-old did not concede a single boundary and gave only six runs in the 17th over to put the pressure right back on CSK. He came back again in the 19th over, this time MS Dhoni had joined Jadeja. Arshdeep nailed two perfect yorkers and mixed his pace brilliantly to bowl another good over, leaving CSK too much to do off the final six deliveries. 27 runs were a bit too much even for Dhoni and Jadeja as Rishi Dhawan closed the match for PBKS despite conceding 15 runs in the 20th over.
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Kagiso Rabada, who had bowled six-run over in-between Arshdeep's two brilliant overs, reserved the highest praise for the young left-arm pacer. The South Africa pace spearhead termed Arshdeep as the best death bowler of the tournament.
{{/usCountry}}Kagiso Rabada, who had bowled six-run over in-between Arshdeep's two brilliant overs, reserved the highest praise for the young left-arm pacer. The South Africa pace spearhead termed Arshdeep as the best death bowler of the tournament.
{{/usCountry}}"Arsh (Arshdeep) has been the best death bowler in the comp, that's what the stats say. He has got a lot of talent, drive and ambition. And he is just a good bloke. So nice to have him around. I know I am going to bowl at the death. Arsh has been magnificent. He has been leading the way in that discipline. Everyone else knows their roles," Rabada said in the post-match presentation.
Arshdeep has an economy rate of 8 in this year's IPL and considering that he has been bowling most of his overs in the final four, that is nothing short of excellent.
The foundation for PBKS' victory was however created by their top-order led by Shikhar Dhawan. In his 200th match, the veteran opener slammed an unbeaten 88 to help PBKS post 187 for 4.
"In the powerplay we were behind the rate. Must tell you, Shikhar and Mayank, the way they held their nerve and then Shikhar and Bhanuka the way they set it up was unbelievable. Livingstone the way he played some gentle strokes out of the park, that set us up nicely and we got a winning total. Each and every individual in our bowling line up put our hand up," Rabada added.