Arshdeep Singh's 5-wicket haul one of the best in IPL: Sanjay Manjrekar

Arshdeep Singh took a brilliant five-wicket haul even as the Punjab Kings faced a shocking defeat to Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2021 on Tuesday. Heaping praise on the left-arm seamer, Sanjay Manjrekar said that it was one of the best five-fors he has seen in the tournament. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, he said:

“It’s one of the best five-wicket hauls I’ve seen in the IPL because it was against the odds. Because the other guys were going to the cleaners. If not for him, you would have seen Rajasthan Royals go beyond 200.”

Arshdeep Singh gave the Punjab Kings their first breakthrough when he had Evin Lewis caught at extra cover in the last over of the Royals' Powerplay. He then got rid of the dangerous Liam Livingstone, ably assisted by a stunning catch in the deep by Fabian Allen.

When Mahipal Lomror threatened to take the game away from the Punjab Kings, Arshdeep Singh came back to get him out for 43 off 17 deliveries. The left-armer then got the wickets of Chetan Sakariya and Kartik Tyagi off the final two deliveries of the innings to complete his five-wicket haul.

Singh finished the innings with figures of 5/32 from his four overs.

Arshdeep Singh got the key wickets: Sanjay Manjrekar

Speaking further about Arshdeep Singh's performance, Manjrekar said:

“Look at the three wickets from the five. He got two at the end, but three where it really mattered. He got Evin Lewis when he was on 36. He got Livingstone when he was also waiting to unleash and Lomror when he was on 43. He sort of nipped the threat before it was really going to go out of hand.”

Arshdeep Singh's heroics, however, were not enough as the Punjab Kings threw away the game from a winning position to hand the Rajasthan Royals two points.

Mayank Agarwal (67) and KL Rahul (49) had put on a rapid 120-run stand to put Punjab Kings in a strong position. From there, Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram looked set to steer the Kings to victory.

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However, with three runs needed off four deliveries, Markram could only watch from the non-striker's end as Tyagi had Pooran and then Deepak Hooda caught behind before bowling a lovely yorker to deny Fabian Allen any runs off the final delivery.