Arshdeep Singh's Delightful Bowling Cuts Short Ruturaj Gaikwad's Innings In Vijay Hazare Trophy- WATCH (Photo credit: BCCI)
India pacer Arshdeep Singh on Saturday, January 11, sent a Champions Trophy reminder to Ajit Agarkar with a brilliant opening spell in the quarterfinal of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He made the new ball talk to flatten Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad's stumps in the very first over. The latter scored just five runs off as many deliveries in the knockout game in Vadodara.
Arshdeep bowled the first over after Punjab captain Abhishek Sharma asked Maharashtra to bat. Gaikwad was first defeated by a brilliant ball midway through the over as he looked to play for the incoming delivery.
Gaikwad then survived a close call after almost chopping the next ball onto his stumps. Thankfully for him, the inside edge guided the ball for a four.
On the final delivery of the over, Arshdeep outsmarted Gaikwad with a ball that went with the angle. The latter again expected an incoming ball, leading him to play well inside the line.
The ball evaded the outside edge to hit the top of the off stump to give Punjab the breakthrough. Watch the video here:
Arshdeep returned in the third over, his second, to dismiss Siddhesh Veer for a five-ball duck, caught by Anmol Malhotra as Maharashtra found themselves at 8/2 in the third over. His first spell read 5-1-21-2.
But after the early breakthroughs, Punjab couldn't find any soon as opener Arshin Kulkarni and Ankit Bawne added 110 runs for the third wicket, with Maharashtra at 118/2 after 29 overs.
Arshdeep is currently the highest wicket-taker in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with 19 wickets from seven matches at an average of 17.36.
With ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah suffering from back spasms and no clarity over Mohammed Shami's availability for the Champions Trophy, Arshdeep might become the second pacer behind Mohammed Siraj in the upcoming tournament.
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