Punjab Kings chased down a 204-run goal in simply 19 overs, led by skipper Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 87 off simply 41 balls in a crunch sport in opposition to the Mumbai Indians within the second qualifier on Sunday in Ahmedabad. Punjab Kings will now be up in opposition to RCB within the closing of IPL 2025.
Punjab Kings continued their smashing run within the 2025 version of the IPL as Shreyas Iyer’s males got here again robust from the blip within the first qualifier to prevail over the Mumbai Indians within the second and qualify for the franchise’s second closing of IPL historical past. It was an ice-man strolling within the type of Shreyas Iyer on the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on early Monday morning because the captain got here clutch, enjoying one of many innings of the event in one of the vital calculated chases of the IPL as Mumbai Indians went down defending a 200-plus rating for the primary time in 18 years.
A 204-run chase is rarely simple and when it’s a knockout for a spot within the closing, in opposition to one of many higher bowling assaults of the event, shedding each the in-form openers within the powerplay itself, it will get doubly troublesome. Nevertheless, Josh Inglis, Nehal Wadhera and skipper Iyer timed the chase to perfection, selecting and selecting which bowlers to assault, which balls to assault and when to assault.
Inglis hitting 20 runs off Jasprit Bumrah in a single over was most likely one of many turning factors of the chase. That over helped Shreyas Iyer take a again seat and let Inglis do his factor until the time he was in and compelled the Mumbai Indians to rethink their technique after their financial institution was looted in the midst of the night time.
After Inglis departed, the subsequent couple of overs went within the rebuilding section for Punjab Kings, however Iyer and Wadhera each knew who and once they wished to focus on. The first main run-flow in that partnership got here within the tenth over of the innings, bowled by Hardik Pandya with the southpaw hitting a six and a 4, together with a dropped catch and Iyer additionally hitting a boundary.
Inglis taking aside Bumrah within the powerplay supplied Iyer and Wadhera the luxurious of calculation and never overdoing the attacking bit. Therefore, they might play out Bumrah for 7 and eight in his subsequent two overs and compensate with 19 and 14 in opposition to Reece Topley and Trent Boult, respectively.
Ashwani Kumar dismissed Wadhera and a little bit of lethargy price Shashank Singh his wicket however Iyer had the sport in management. “I used to be locked in,” he stated after Harsha Bhogle talked about that Iyer regarded in a daze after the win with none extravagant celebration or reactions as a result of he knew Punjab Kings needed to play one other huge sport in a bit lower than 42 hours.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians rode on contributions from Jonny Bairstow, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir to submit yet one more whole in extra of 200 as Punjab Kings’ bowling, aside from Kyle Jamieson, left just a little to be desired.
This was Iyer’s fiftieth win as a captain within the IPL and now grew to become solely captain to guide three completely different franchises into the IPL closing. Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru could have a date with future as IPL could have a brand new winner on Tuesday, June 3.