Shreyas Iyer smashed as many as nine sixes and five fours as he finished unbeaten on 97 off 42 balls in his first innings as a Punjab Kings player
Shreyas Iyer has marked his Punjab Kings debut with an unbeaten 97 off 42 balls in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season opener against the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad. Iyer hit a whopping nine sixes and five fours on his way to the ton. He shared a couple of blistering stands with debutant Priyansh Arora and Marcus Stoinis but the standout was his final partnership with Shashank Singh, with the pair putting up an unbeaten stand of 81 runs in a scarcely believable 28 balls.
Shreyas Iyer put up a scarcely believable unbeaten stand of 81 runs in just 28 balls with Shashank Singh(AFP)
Iyer was made captain by the franchise after acquiring him for ₹26.75 crore, thus briefly making him the most expensive player in the history of the IPL auctions. He came in to bat at No.3 in the fourth over after the dismissal of Prabhsimran Singh, who fell for an eight-ball five.
Iyer first shared a 51-run stand off just 21 balls with IPL debutant Priyansh Arya, who fell on 47 off 23 balls. There was a brief downturn after the dismissal, with Azmatullah Omarzai scoring 16 in 15 balls and Glenn Maxwell then falling for a golden duck.
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However, PBKS’s charge resumed with Marcus Stoinis giving Iyer able company. The pair smashed 57 runs for the fifth wicket off just 28 balls. Iyer was especially brutal in the 17th over against Prasidh Krishna, going 6, 4, 6, 6 between the second and fifth balls. After that, though it was the Shashank Singh show and the latter said later that Iyer asked him to score as many runs as possible in the last over and not worry about giving him strike. It meant that Iyer was stranded on 97 at the non-striker’s end but Shashank went berzerk, himself staying unbeaten on 44 in 16 balls.
Iyer was captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last season and led them to their third IPL title. However, he was not included in the franchise’s list of retentions ahead of the mega-auction last year and former Australia batter Matthew Hayden aluded to that in the commentary box while Iyer was in the 90s.
“Is there a bit of ‘have some of this KKR’? He wins them the title, he moves and he has absolutely played a flawless innings. Just belting it everywhere, great timing, field awareness, fantastic striking. KKR, well, say no more,” said Hayden.
