Shreyas Iyer's IPL Brilliance Propels PBKS to a Winning Start
Arya and Shashank also made an impact as PBKS won by 11 runs with their highest-ever total.
Ankush Pandey
Punjab Kings defeated Gujarat Titans 232 for 5 (Sudharsan 74, Buttler 54, Rutherford 46, Gill 33, Arshdeep 2-36) by 11 runs with 243 for 5 (Iyer 97*, Arya 47, Shashank 44*, Sai Kishore 3-30).
In Ahmedabad, where the captain who won the title the previous season made his big announcement, new (or returning) players have taken center stage during the first week of the 2025 Indian Premier League. After leading Punjab Kings' batting lineup to their second-highest total ever, Shreyas Iyer helped them defeat Gujarat Titans by 11 runs.
Iyer walks the talk
Iyer had a hundred to spare. He told his partner, Shashank Singh, not to worry about the milestone, so even though he was 97 off 42 when the last over started, he did not face a single ball of it. He expressed his desire to bat at number three before the season began, and he demonstrated to GT the amount of damage he could cause from that position.
He hit nine sixes in his highest IPL score to date. His decision to bat in this manner was deliberate, and he has only cleared the boundary more frequently once in this tournament.
Iyer was aware that PBKS required a high score at a stadium where chasing teams had won five of the previous six IPL matches. Dew is a major contributor to that disparity, and Tuesday night had an abundance of it. In light of all that, Iyer seized every chance to exercise his freedom. Off Kagiso Rabada, he hit his fourth ball for six.
Shortly after Sai Kishore had taken two wickets in two balls in his previous over, he hammered the left-arm spinner for two more. His final analysis of 4-0-48-1 showed that he even took out Rashid Khan, contributing two of the five sixes the legspinner had to deal with.
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Iyer was so focused on opportunities to score runs that he saw a wide from the non-strikers' end in the fifteenth over. He hit the extra ball for six as well when he came on strike.
A new face and an old face
Coach Ricky Ponting gave Priyansh Arya a lot of praise during the preseason, and it appears that he has what it takes. Eight of his team's twelve powerplay boundaries came from the 24-year-old left-hand opening batsman, which is a significant accomplishment given that he was up against Mohammed Siraj and Rabada.
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The other outstanding batting performer for Punjab was Shashank. He knew he couldn't take any time to settle because he entered with the death overs imminent. His best performance came when he took Siraj out in a final over that went for 23. He faced 16 balls and hit half of them to the boundary.
Sudharsan shines
The last time Sai Sudharsan batted here in the IPL, he scored a hundred runs against CSK, whom he had trampled all over the park during the final between those two teams. He has the big match temperature under control. No bowling of any sort has yet to show up for him. In fact, T20 may not be his ideal format.
He needs to exert a little more effort than his current game permits. But picture him in Test whites, with endless time to build an innings. It can't be long before India throws him in.
He has played first-class cricket in England for the last two seasons, and he will be touring there soon. When Titans hammered 87 runs in the six overs from the ninth to the fourteenth in this match, he took off after making 74 off 41. At this point in the match, Titans were 30 runs ahead of Punjab (169 vs 139, with two fewer wickets lost). Jos Buttler also helped himself to a fifty while playing at number three for his new team.
Big impact from Vyshak
Vijaykumar Vyshak was given the ball for the fifteenth over after he had just been substituted on. There was only one reason he ran in. hitting the blockhole, which was difficult because of the presence of dew. Even though some of his deliveries ended up being wide full-tosses, he didn't mind.
During the 15th and 17th overs, he pitched all balls, including the extras, at full length. Nothing was present, even on a decent length. He only conceded 10 runs in those 12 balls and sucked the Titans' innings of momentum because of his clarity and execution. Titans could only scrape together 50 runs, while Punjab scored 77 in their final five overs.
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