Ludhiana Lions survived a streak of four losses on the trot to punch a ticket to Sher-e-Punjab T20 League knockouts, with the one-run defeat against Fazilka Falcons a bitter pill to swallow. Yet an enormous victory at the beginning of the event versus Mohali Kings and a late surge courtesy of captain Salil Arora’s return to form meant Jalandhar Warriors were meeting in the semi-final a team that prided itself on its bouncebackability. An early dent in their confidence was preferable, and the responsibility fell on the experienced shoulders of Emanjot Singh Chahal.
From a match-up standpoint, it made perfect sense for the left-arm orthodox to have the first crack as both Abhijeet Garg and Bikramjeet Singh bat right-handed. The fact that Emanjot had toppled the opening domino in the previous clash incentivized the move to summon a spinner in the PowerPlay, where the law mandates only two boundary riders in defence of a drag down. Recently, one of his adversaries had been involved in a century partnership with Salil, leaving the margin for error infinitesimal. “I got you, skip,” Emanjot’s locked-in avatar said to Prabhsimran Singh, who won an important toss and elected to field.
As the caravan returned to the featherbeds where Amritsar Soormas lost consecutively despite slamming thick totals on the board, Ludhiana Lions were primed for a headstart. What transpired in Mohali, at least in the initial half of the innings, was an obverse to the general consensus. Emanjot had the ball on a string, with the grip and bite he managed to extract swallowing Bikramjeet even as immaculate lengths forced Abhijeet to fetch the sweep from afar. His bottom hand came off the handle in the ugly process, summoning mid-wicket into backpedalling motion from the edge of the circle.
Had Bikramjeet been in the whites, a poke at the turning delivery would’ve landed him in the coach’s bad books, but such is the busy nature of T20 cricket that batters crave the feeling of willow contacting leather. He followed the deviation instead of retracting himself, the thought of nurdling the worthy gem for a quick single in the point region stamped across his mind. Taranveer Randhawa was another casualty of this itch that comes with the territory, with Gurvinder Bhullar’s angle from over the wicket consuming the southpaw. By the time the field spread out, Ludhiana Lions were looking unanimously in the direction of their bulwark, whose pick-up pull highlighted an array of salvaging shots.
However, Salil had no option but to hedge his bets now. The third over of Emanjot passed by as quietly as traditional wooden boats gliding under shaded palm arches along the narrow waterways of Vietnam. In fact, Ludhiana Lions refrained from going after Emanjot irrespective of southpaw Madhav Pathania’s presence at the crease. Not that the youngster whose guile caught the fancy of Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals was conceding an inch either. A miscued slog sweep dropped in between mid-wicket and long-on in his final salvo, and the pressure created through his stranglehold led to Krish Bhagat’s dismissal, for he couldn’t afford to play out Vikrant Rana’s over regardless of a smashing cover drive upfront.
Though subtle pace variations and canny usage of the box from Emanjot in a spell of 2/22 laid the foundation of a chaseable target, Ludhiana Lions’ tactic of seeing the weapon off worked like a charm. Following a double whammy post the halfway mark, Madhav joined forces with Salil to add 115 runs in just 50 balls, ushering their side from 106/5 to an above-par 220. It was a dolorous undoing of Emanjot’s efforts, with Bhullar proving to be the main culprit as on-song tweaker Randeep Singh was missing in action for reasons undisclosed. He was a part of the playing eleven but didn’t roll his arm over once, a hammer blow for Jalandhar Warriors given his sustained potency at the death.
Yet, with Prabhsimran flaunting an aggregate of 575 runs, nothing was cast in stone. He occupied the middle till the 11th over, racing to 63 off 35, but the lack of support from his comrades sunk the ship. Vishwanath Singh and Anmol Malhotra tallied 48 in 36 combined as Jalandhar Warriors ate up 33 balls to attain their second team fifty. Any hopes of a late revival were extinguished promptly by the yorker execution of Sahil Bhaskar, who was denied a hat-trick due to a reversed lbw call. At this juncture, Ludhiana Lions had one leg in the grand finale but Emanjot had more to offer to this see-sawing tussle. Walking in at 155/5, he linked up with Sukhdeep Bajwa to make Ludhiana Lions fight for the sweet taste of triumph, especially in the home stretch by flaying a wide yorker over deep point and helping a juicy full toss along for a maximum over long leg. Albeit Sahil’s knack of targeting the block hole rendered his pace bowling a hard nut to crack.
Speaking about his journey, Sahil revealed that Hardik Pandya’s performance in the 2017 Champions Trophy inspired him to pursue cricket professionally. “I wanted to become a player of that level and serve India like he was doing. I did well in school cricket and then chose to pursue the sport professionally. I joined Spartans Cricket Academy in Jodhpur and played age-group cricket for Rajasthan before deciding to switch states in search of better opportunities,” Sahil reflected.
The six-wicket haul in the crunch game took Sahil’s tally to 20 scalps in nine matches in the tournament, seven clear of his mate Kartik Chadha. “My wish is that I can produce the same kind of spell in the final and become the champion with my team,” concluded Sahil whose learning curve in Sher-e-Punjab T20 League featured lessons from Arshdeep Singh, the marquee signing of Ludhiana Lions. Before you jump the gun, familiarity doesn’t make the seamer an apple of his eye by default. “To be honest, my idol is Jasprit Bumrah.”
