IPL 2023, RR vs PBKS | Twitter questions Arshdeep's sportsmanship after deceptive stutter forces Jurel to pull away
Competition can make players resort to desperate tactics, often at the cost of the all-important sporting spirit. Arshdeep Singh encountered heavy flak on Wednesday after he attempted to deceive Dhruv Jurel with a stutter in his run-up, only for the batter to wisely pull away at the right time.
The first-ever IPL encounter at the Baraspara Stadium in Guwahati was a thriller as the Rajasthan Royals took their run chase against Punjab Kings right to the wire. Having been set a mammoth target of 198 after opting to bowl first, the team struggled to keep up with the required run rate for the majority of the middle overs before cameos by Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer completely changed the complexion of the game. The biggest twist came in the 19th over where premier Punjab pacer Arshdeep Singh was hit for 18 runs to being the equation down to 16 off the last over albeit it proved to be too much for the hosts in the end. However, apart from all the cricketing battles, it was a dead ball that seemed to catch the most attention among spectators.
Arshdeep greeted Jurel with a brilliant yorker to start off but the young batter at the other end responded fittingly, smacking him for a four and a six off the next two deliveries. Visibly under pressure, the left-arm pacer thereafter chose to resort to unconventional tactics to save his grace as well as earn his team a crucial victory. Running in from over the wicket, Singh started steaming in at full force but slowed down after a few yards, only to regain momentum once again. The change-up completely surprised Jurel and the 22-year-old decided to step away from the crease just as Arshdeep was about to roll his arm.
Replays showed that Singh's variation in running speed came near the end of his run-up, seemingly to deceive the batter into thinking he was about to pull out from his attempted delivery before continuing on his way. The Twitterati was quick to notice the dirty tactic employed by the young speedster and did not hold back on making their feelings known on social media.
Why would you do that?
— WPL MAHARASTRA (@WMaharastra) April 5, 2023
Real nightmare!
Arshdeep wasn’t going to sleep easy tonight man
— . (@HiiiiPowerrr) April 5, 2023
Never ending love story!
These 19th overs haunting continues for Arshdeep paaji.
— Propaganda Wala (@aPropagandaWala) April 5, 2023
Hahahaha! Lol :D :D
Can someone give me that attitude wala celebration of Arshdeep photo
— SJ😮💨 (@sallivocusSJ) April 5, 2023
Sure he did!
Arshdeep went Dinda mode in 19th over pic.twitter.com/2aJvGj516z
— Ritvik (@kohli_fanatic) April 5, 2023
He owns that over!
Arshdeep Singh and 19th over a never ending Love story #RRvsPBKS pic.twitter.com/8zE9tltYbn
— Gourav 🔥 (@GOATNIstan__) April 5, 2023
Hope he will come back stronger in next game!
Arshdeep and 19th over 💞🤌#IPL2023 #RRvsPBKS
— vijay choudhary (@vijaych88617002) April 5, 2023
Easy boissss! Curran did for his team this time!
Arshdeep after given 18 runs in 19th over to shikhar dhawan #RRvsPBKS pic.twitter.com/cDzZWqZP76
— 𝙍𝙖𝙟𝙫𝙚𝙚𝙧 (@rajveer____) April 5, 2023
Pehla Pyaaarrrr!
Arshdeep and 19th over!!#RRvsPBKS
— Nickhil (@nickkkhill) April 5, 2023
He was under pressure!
Arshdeep Singh and going big runs in 19th over, pair made in heaven.
— EngiNerd. (@mainbhiengineer) April 5, 2023