Punjab Kings fast bowler Arshdeep Singh was on song against Rajasthan Royals in Dubai on Tuesday night. The left-arm pacer bagged a five-wicket haul as the KL Rahul-led side pulled the things back in their favour in the death overs in a brilliant manner.
RR were 164/4 at in the 17th over and were cruising towards a big total but some fine bowling from Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep in the end put a halt to the scoring-rate.
Arshdeep’s scalps included the wickets of opener Evin Lewis, Liam Livingstone, Mahipal Lomror, Chetan Sakariya and Kartik Tyagi.
Batting first, RR managed to put 185 in 20 overs after witnessing a major batting collapse. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal top-scored for the Royals with a 36-ball 49 while Lewis was dismissed for 36 off 21, courtesy, a good catch from Mayank Agarwal.
Livingstone who was making his debut for the Punjab Kings chipped in with 25 off 17 before he was sent back in the hut after Fabian Allen grabbed a stunner in the deep.
Later, Lomror took the onus on himself and hammered the spinners for four maximums during the course of his 17-ball 43. But the left-hander’s wicket saw a flurry of wickets at a quick succession and RR were eventually bundled out.
Arshdeep returned with figures of 5/32 in 4 overs and became the second youngest Indian bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul in the IPL. Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat has the record to his name who was 21 when he took 5/21 in 2013 against the then known Delhi Daredevils.
Mohammed Shami also returned with some impressive figures after he picked up three wickets at the cost of 21 runs in 4 overs. Punjab Kings have only won three out of the eight matches that they have played so far in the competition while RR have three wins to their name in seven fixtures.