"When You Think You're So Big...": Yograj Singh Singles Out Shreyas Iyer As IPL Final Loss Culprit
Despite a stellar campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer failed to deliver in the final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), as PBKS lost their second final in IPL history. Chasing 191, Shreyas got out for just 1 run off 2 balls in the crucial match. Following the match, Shreyas was given the sole blame for PBKS' defeat by former India cricketer and the father of Yuvraj Singh, Yograj Singh. Yograj accused Shreyas of thinking himself to be bigger than cricket.
Yograj went as far as labelling Shreyas as the 'criminal' following hShis failure in the IPL 2025 final.
"There is only one criminal from the match, and that is the captain of Punjab Kings, Shreyas Iyer," Yograj said, speaking to IANS.
"No one is bigger than cricket. When you start thinking of yourself as big, that's when such happens," Yograj added.
Shreyas finished as Punjab Kings' top run-scorer in IPL 2025, slamming 604 runs at a strike rate of 175. His strike-rate was the best among all the batters in the top 10 run-scorers of IPL 2025.
In fact, Shreyas had smashed a scintillating unbeaten 41-ball 87 in Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians to take Punjab Kings to the final. However, Shreyas failed to replicate his heroics in the summit clash, getting out cheaply with PBKS still having a mountain to climb.
In the end, PBKS ended up losing by merely 6 runs to RCB, ending their dreams of a first IPL title in 18 years.
Yograj did not miss the opportunity to bring up the performances of his son, legendary India cricketer Yuvraj Singh.
"There are many players, but India has had only two great finishers - MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh. The two have won India 92 matches from losing positions. Yuvraj has a 98 per cent winning rate. He has won 72 games single-handedly," Yograj stated.
"On the contrary (to Shreyas Iyer), Virat Kohli made 40 (43) runs. So there is just one culprit in Punjab's defeat, and that is their captain."
Shreyas was made the second-most expensive player in IPL auction history when he was bought for a whopping Rs 26.75 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction. Having led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the title in IPL 2024, Shreyas led a PBKS team to the playoffs for only the third time in their history and the first time in 11 years.
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