Mumbai, April 17 (IANS) Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting has heaped praise on fast bowler Arshdeep Singh, whose brilliant spell helped the team register a dominant 7-wicket win against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the iconic Wankhede Stadium.

Arshdeep, who was struggling to take wickets from the start of the season, made a strong comeback against Mumbai as he took three wickets and gave away just 22 runs in his four overs. After the win, Ponting praised Arshdeep’s hard work and commitment towards the team.

“Well, I mean, what everyone needs to know about Arshdeep is that he loves his training. He trains very, very hard. Yesterday, he sent me a 20-minute bowl. It was more like a 30 or 40-minute bowl out here. Did some target bowling stuff. Just fine-tuning the way that he wanted to start his spell today,” Ponting said in a video released by IPL on X.

“And it just goes to show that when you put in the hard work, you get the rewards. We got the rewards tonight. So, it’s nice to see from a coaching group that when you give trust to your players and let them get themselves prepared in their own way,” he added.

Ponting also credited the environment of the team, which helped Arshdeep to mentally prepare for his comeback after a poor performance in starting three matches.

“We’ll always back our players in regardless of how well they’re going or how well they’re not going. You know, in this Punjab team now, we’ve got a settled side,” He said.

“We’re backing them in, regardless if they have two or three bad games in a row. The environment that we’re creating is all about trust and making sure that we’re there for our mates when it matters. And Arshdeep has certainly done that for us this week,” he said.

Speaking of the match, despite De Kock’s ton, MI were not able to cross the 200-run mark and set a target of 196 runs for PBKS, which they chased down easily in just 16.3 overs.

–IANS

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