Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer surprised everyone by defeating Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2025. He took Punjab to the final after 11 years by playing a blistering innings of 87 runs not out in 41 balls.
Now on June 3, he will enter the title battle against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Ahmedabad. But do you know, before this explosive innings, Shreyas had slept for only four hours?
Shreyas laughingly said in the press conference,
“I could not sleep, just got four hours of sleep and I am here.”
Additionally, Iyer mentioned, ” I was trying to keep calm n focus on my breathing to get result and that works like magic. ”
Everyone was surprised to hear this! Even with so little sleep, he was spitting fire on the field. There were eight sixes in his innings, including a yorker from a strong bowler like Jasprit Bumrah, which he sent to the keeper Cricket magician AB de Villiers even called it the. “best shot of IPL 2025”.
PBKS’s explosive comeback in Qualifier 2
The road for Punjab Kings was not easy. After the 8-wicket loss to RCB in Qualifier 1, many thought that Punjab’s game was over.
But Shreyas had said, “We have lost the battle, not the war.”
And he showed the same spirit in Qualifier 2. Chasing a difficult target of 204 runs, Josh Inglis (38 runs) gave the start, then Shreyas put Mumbai on the backfoot by sharing an 84-run partnership with Nehal Wadhera (48 runs).
He got Punjab a ticket to the final by hitting the winning six in the last over.
This innings of Shreyas is also special because the last two years were like a roller-coaster for him. He lost the BCCI central contract, KKR dropped him as captain, and was also dropped from the Test team.
But every setback made him stronger. Punjab bet on him for 26.75 crores and Shreyas proved it completely right. 603 runs in 16 matches this season and a strike rate of 175+ is telling the resonance of his bat.
For now, everyone’s eyes are on the final on June 3, where Punjab will face RCB. Shreyas’ leadership and Ricky Ponting’s coaching have given a new color to Punjab.
