Shreyas Iyer in action for Punjab Kings in IPL 2025© AFP
Shreyas Iyer scored his second half-century of IPL 2025 as Punjab Kings comfortably defeated Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday. The PBKS skipper remained unbeaten on 50 with the help of 3 fours and 4 sixes. It was a brilliant batting display from Shreyas and his knock earned him praises from both experts as well as fans. Legendary Indian cricket team batter Sunil Gavaskar was also a fan of Shreyas’ batting and on commentary, he said that Shreyas did not get the credit he deserved for KKR’s title winning campaign in 2024. Shreyas was the captain of the KKR side but was released after the season.
“Shreyas was the captain of the KKR side that won in 2024 and I believe that he did not get the credit that he deserved. His captaincy record is quite impressive,” Gavaskar said on commentary.
The pint-sized Prabhsimran Singh packed a mean punch in his enthralling 34-ball 69 as Punjab Kings outclassed Lucknow Super Giants by 8 wickets with an commanding all-round performance in an IPL game on Monday. Chasing a target of 172 on a track that offered grip and variable bounce, Punjab were off to a rollicking start, courtesy Prabhsimran, who hammered the LSG bowling attack into submission in the first 10 overs with nine fours and three sixes, to effectively kill the contest.
It was then a cakewalk for his skipper Shreyas Iyer (52 not out off 30 balls) with the chase being completed in 16.2 overs to increase the worries for an out-of-form LSG captain Rishabh Pant, who looked bereft of ideas.
Young Nehal Wadhera (43 not out off 25 balls) after initial struggle also picked up some confidence boosting easy runs towards the end.
The match was won and lost in the two Powerplays where the hosts were outplayed.
In the batting Powerplay, they were down to 39 for 3 after losing three of their top-order players, leaving the middle-order with a lot of heavy-lifting to do.
It was a collective bowling effort from Punjab, be it pacers Arshdeep Singh (3/43 in 4 overs), Lockie Ferguson (/126 in 3 overs), Marco Jansen (1/28 in 4 overs) or spinners Glenn Maxwell (1/22 in 3 overs) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/36 in 4 overs).
(With PTI inputs)
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