Shreyas Iyer plays an all-time great knock, PBKS set up final against RCB to ensure a new IPL champion

Indian Express

2 days ago

IPL 2025 to have a new winner as a captain's knock from Shreyas Iyer delivers Punjab Kings 5 wicket win over Mumbai Indians.
In 18 seasons of the IPL, Mumbai Indians have never lost a game when they had posted a total of 200 and above. On Sunday, extending into early hours of Monday morning, in the Qualifier II, Shreyas Iyer made it a chew-gum-and-spit effort with an unbeaten 87 off 41 that took Punjab Kings to only their second ever IPL final and first since 2014. They will fight it out against Royal Challengers Bengaluru – another team hoping to end their title drought – at the same venue on Tuesday.
At the half-way stage, when Punjab headed back to the dugout, they appeared a confident bunch that is capable of overhauling the target of 204 particularly the manner in which the five-time champions bowled in their game against Gujarat. It is an attack that is overtly dependent on Jasprit Bumrah to rescue them time and again. See him off with minimal risks, and Punjab had the resources to pull it off. That is easier said than done in a chase of 200 and above when one has to keep an eye on the asking rate.
After losing Prabhsimran Singh early in the third over, it was the fifth over delivered by Bumrah that actually got the chase on track for Punjab. With Priyansh Arya causing early damages, Hardik Pandya turned to Bumrah in the powerplay in the hope of landing more punches on Punjab's top-order which has done all the scoring for them. Instead, Josh Inglis did a calculative assault, taking Bumrah for 20 runs (2×4, 2×6) in the fifth over.
Shreyas Iyer Special: Captain aces the chase with 87*(41) ❤️
🎥🔽 WATCH his brilliant knock | #TATAIPL | #PBKSvMI | #Qualifier2 | #TheLastMile
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But with Arya perishing in the next over and Inglis in the eighth, it was pretty much neck-and-neck as Mumbai kept three overs of Bumrah for the last 10.
Shreyas, though, had other ideas. For a batsman who has enjoyed playing away from home, Sunday was no different. From the time he walked in, he was in the zone as he got going with a boundary off the second ball, then went about pacing his innings to perfection. For the next 9 deliveries, he seemed content enough rotating the strike in the company of Nehal Wadhera. Off his first 15 deliveries he had only 19 and it was in the 13th over delivered by Reece Topley, where the wheels began to come off for Mumbai.
Three length balls delivered with just slight deviation in the line disappeared into the stands for a hat-trick of sixes as Shreyas crack opened the chase. With Wadhera, dropped on 13 by Trent Boult, ensuring Shreyas doesn't need to the job all by himself Punjab kept Mumbai under sustained pressure. Having brought forward their death overs against Gujarat Titans, Mumbai wanted to save the best for the last, but with Topley and Boult sending in two expensive overs Bumrah was done with his three by the 15th over. And needing 57 off 30 with 7 wickets in hand, the chase was going just one way.
Nehal Wadhera's crucial knock of 48(29) 👏
🔽 WATCH | #TATAIPL | #PBKSvMI | #Qualifier2 | #TheLastMile | @PunjabKingsIPL
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In between there was a slight wobble when Wadhera and Shashank Singh departed in space off 6 deliveries, but during which time Shreyas had managed to hit a six and a boundary. And the next two boundaries by Shreyas off Boult and Bumrah off the successive deliveries he faced killed the chase. After guiding Boult past short third twice, he saved the best for Bumrah, who dished out another middle-stump, pin-point yorker which most batsmen would have been lucky to play it safe. Shreyas, though, chose to dare as at the point of connection, opened the face of the bat to get it past the third-man fielder who was inside the ring. AB de Villiers later called it the shot of the IPL and it is hard to argue. Bumrah ended up with figures of 4-0-40-0.
With 23 needed off 12, Shreyas toyed with Ashwani Kumar, picking spots to hit four sixes in the 19th as Mumbai's wait for a title since 2020 spilled into 2026.
If Mumbai look back at the result, they would rue how they missed picking the clues that Punjab provided them in the second half of their innings. Having waited till 9.45 to bat after losing the toss, to make up for their struggling bowling unit, Mumbai batsmen displayed all the intent that was needed. That they made 203/6 with the highest score being 44 (Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav) was a testament to their approach which was definitely the need of the night. After Rohit Sharma perished early, Jonny Bairstow ensured they got another fruitful powerplay as Varma promoted to No 3, brought the urgency that was missing when he was playing lower down the order. Right through the season, despite not showing signs of hitting top gear, Mumbai has effortlessly gone at 10 an over and it repeated once again on the night as they dismantled Punjab attack without breaking sweat.
Silky shots. Serious intent 🔥
🎥 Tilak Varma and Surya Kumar Yadav power #MI through the middle overs with classy maximums 🚀
They are 112/2 after 11 overs.
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At 102/2 at the end of 10 overs, Mumbai were sailing through for a grand finish. But one thing the Punjab attack has done repeatedly this IPL has been to pull things back when the opposition least expect them to. When Shreyas Iyer called Chahal for his last over in the 14th, a total in excess of 220 was in sight, and when Suryakumar hit a six right away, the wheels appeared to be coming off. But off his penultimate delivery, Chahal – watching Surya prepping up for a sweep – showed the courage to slow it down and deliver one at 85.6, which could be connected only till the fielder at deep mid-wicket. Chahal, though should give the credit to Kyle Jamieson, who in the previous over had shown enough evidence that the slow deliveries were always going to bring rewards as Suryakumar struggled to connect his three cutters that were banged into the pitch.
Those deliveries would soon become the norm going forward in the innings. In his next over, Jamieson delivered another slower full delivery which Varma skied to Priyansh Arya running from long-on. Two wickets in the space of three deliveries pegged back Mumbai as by the time the death overs began, there were two new batsmen in – Hardik Pandya and Naman Dhir. Though Mumbai managed to score 57 in the next 5 overs that took them past 200, they never came close to hitting the top gear as Punjab's attack used the long boundaries on either side of the square to good effect.