In a pre-season podcast that has recently gone viral, a Punjab Kings player is seen confidently boasting about his team’s chances. “What top-4? We will finish in the top-two,” Shashank Singh declares to the interviewer – even agreeing to be trolled if his prediction did not come true. What top-two, they finished at the very top of the table at the end of the league stage.
A fleeting hiccup in Qualifier 1 threatened to derail what had been a stellar campaign. But in that moment of truth, in Qualifier 2, Shreyas Iyer heroically led from the front, standing tall like the Rock of Gibraltar in a record chase against Mumbai Indians. Destiny had a name, and in Shreyas on Sunday night at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the IPL found its newest hero.
Shreyas’ unbeaten 87 off 41 balls might just be the knock of IPL 2025 – unless someone produces a ridiculously crazy innings in the final on Tuesday (June 3). And even then, it will take some doing to eclipse the Punjab skipper’s feat. Few would have pressed on the gas when there was an exact need of it in the chase of 204. Eight sixes in an innings may not be unprecedented but smashing them in a high stakes game like the ‘semifinal’ takes some doing. He swatted them away – like flies, after walking in at 55/2 and taking his time to get his eye in before steadying the ship and calmly guiding PBKS to an all-important five-wicket win.
“He is a sensational captain and a sensational player,” declared PBKS bowling coach James Hopes after they knocked out heavyweights Mumbai Indians. The best part of Shreyas’ breathtaking knock was the timing of the acceleration. He was on 19 off 15 deliveries when his side needed 95 off the last-eight overs. He then unleashed three back-to-back sixes off Reece Topley over square leg, long-on and long-off, each better than the previous. Then smashed four more in the final over to upend the contest.
“He just flicked the switch as he’s done a couple of times in this tournament. It was a very classy knock,” Hopes noted. “He’s calm, he doesn’t get flustered very easily and he knows his match-ups. He knows what he has to do at certain times and he’s prepared to take that risk.” In the last two overs, 23 were needed. He finished the match in one over, clobbering four sixes.
