Ahead of Punjab Kings’ playoff tie against Mumbai Indians in the 2025 Indian Premier League, Arshdeep Singh was asked to name his best-ever spell in the competition. He had plenty to choose from, standing only six wickets short of 100 IPL wickets at the time. He passed over his best figures and chose the 4/29 against Mumbai at the Wankhede in 2023. In a match that yielded 415 runs, Arshdeep bowled 12 dots, conceding only two runs in the final over. A spell so exemplary must have caught the attention of the MI think-tank.On Wednesday, Arshdeep was traded to Mumbai and Hardik Pandya travelled the other way. Whether Pandya can rediscover himself in Punjab red is for time to answer. But if precedent counts for anything in cricket, Mumbai will feel they have done good business.The left-arm seamer is at home at the Wankhede — nine IPL matches, 15 wickets, an economy rate of 7, an average of 14.93 and a strike rate of 12.8. Since his debut, only four bowlers have taken more wickets in the competition at the Wankhede Stadium: Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Pandya and Shardul Thakur. Each of them has done at least part of that work in Mumbai colours.Mumbai, among the tournament’s most decorated franchises with five titles, owe much of their success to their bowling contingent. In all of their title-winning campaigns, they have finished among the top three on the wickets table. Their decline can be traced to the dulling of that attack. In 2026, they managed barely 75 wickets in 14 matches, finishing seventh on the leaderboard, and their economy rate of 10.25 was the second-worst.Even Jasprit Bumrah, arguably the one bowler the format’s ever-growing cruelty towards bowlers has never touched, had to wait for six matches, nearly a month into the season, for his first wicket. Mumbai’s problem, however, was never Bumrah, but the want of support for him.After his match-winning spell of 3/37 against Australia in the Super 8 of the 2024 T20 World Cup, a tournament where he finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker, he could easily have basked in the credit.Instead he deflected it. “A lot of credit goes to Jassi bhai, because he puts a lot of pressure on the batters, he gives 3 or 4 runs in an over,” he said. “So, batsmen are coming hard against me, and when they are trying, I just have to try and bowl my best ball, and there are a lot of chances of getting wickets there”The statement was not an unsubstantiated act of modesty — it has empirical merit. In that very match, Arshdeep sealed India’s victory with two wickets in the 18th over, which followed a five-run over from Bumrah.Story continues below this adBumrah’s influence on Arshdeep can be ratified with metrics. Bowling in tandem with Bumrah, Arshdeep has an economy rate of 8.47, an average of 18.6 and a strike rate of 13.1. Without him, the figures slip to 8.75, 21.69 and 14.87. The benefit runs both ways, for Bumrah’s numbers are also better when Arshdeep bowls from the other end.The pairing has worked wonders in Indian blue, and there is little reason to think it will not in Mumbai’s. Arshdeep’s arrival may also cure the franchise’s aversion to frugality in the two crucial periods of a T20I fixture — the powerplay (overs 0-6), where their 2026 economy rate of 10.83 was the second-highest, and the death (overs 16-20), where they stood third on the generosity list by conceding 11.22 runs per over.A proven record at the Wankhede, a partnership with Bumrah that has stood the test of time, and a fine body of work overall: for Mumbai, there is much to like about Arshdeep.Arshdeep Singh in IPL at Wankhede Stadium:M Ovs Runs Wkts Eco Ave SR Dot ball %9 32 224 15 7 14.93 12.8 42.2Arshdeep Singh with Bumrah without Bumrah in T20IsMatches 28 76Overs 101 260.1Runs 856 2277Wkts 46 105Eco 8.47 8.75Ave 18.60 21.69SR 13.10 14.87