Ahmedabad: Shreyas Iyer (87* – 41b, 5×4, 8×6) played an innings to remember to take Punjab Kings to their second IPL final, helping them chase down Mumbai Indians’ 203/6 in 19 overs in the Qualifier 1 on Sunday. The result means IPL 2025 will have a new winner, with PBKS setting up a final clash with Royal Challengers Bengaluru here on Tuesday.
PBKS reached 207/5 in 19 overs, knocking out five-time champions MI.
If MI batters consistently found the boundaries, Punjab’s reply would see sudden spurts in the scoring rate. Every time MI applied the squeeze, PBKS batters would unlock a big over. Like a rare asteroid event, Jasprit Bumrah’s first over, bowled in the Powerplay, went for 20 runs. Josh Inglis was the one to wreck the ace paceman’s plans.
Hardik Pandya’s bouncer cut short Inglis’ charge on 38 (21b) and the MI captain almost struck for his side a decisive blow in the 10th over, only for Trent Boult to spill Nehal Wadhera’s catch in the deep. Instead of being 94/4, PBKS finished on 98/3 at the halfway mark. Wadhera (48- 29b) made them pay for the lapse.
But it was Shreyas Iyer’s three consecutive sixes in the 13th over bowled by Reece Topley that got MI truly worried. Iyer squeezed out boundaries out of nowhere, dug out yorkers and directed them to the third man boundary with an angled blade. The PBKS captain batted with such authority that his presence at the crease all the way till the end shut the doors on MI’s hopes of making their seventh final.
The Narendra Modi stadium was more than half full, still comfortably more filled than any other stadium in the country. While it drizzled on Sunday evening, sometimes poured, stopped, only to reappear again, the Ahmedabad crowd was happy to keep themselves entertained, swaying to the Hindi numbers from the stadium sound system.
Their patience paid off as the rain stopped in the nick of time with the promise of a full match, despite the delayed start.
While the playing conditions may not have changed with no reduced overs, the pitch, under covers for two hours, was damp. Rohit Sharma and Jonny Bairstow were wise to acknowledge that and were circumspect for the first eight balls. That’s until Bairstow picked Kyle Jamieson over the square leg boundary for his first six.
At the other end, Shreyas introduced Marcus Stoinis early to replace Arshdeep Singh, despite Rohit’s weakness against left-arm pace. The plan worked immediately with Rohit’s pull landing in the hands of deep backward square leg. It could be easily categorised as a lucky break, but Rohit may have been unable to resist having a go at Stoinis’ bouncer bowled at medium pace. Perhaps, that was the punt to get Rohit out early.
Just when Bairstow (38- 24b) was beginning to look dangerous, Vijaykumar Vyshak’s knuckle ball did him in. The Englishman picked the wrong ball to scoop.
PBKS pacers were making a conscious effort to bowl a shorter length with a fair sprinkling of slower balls to benefit from the stickiness of the pitch. But the MI batters were still finding enough boundaries to score at 10-an-over in the Powerplay as well as mid-innings.
This, even as Shreyas continued to gamble. He trusted Yuzvendra Chahal to challenge his adverse match-up Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav, a tormentor of spin. And Chahal, returning from injury, used all the tricks in his book, varying angles, lengths and speeds to stay in the hunt. Suryakumar, as he has done through the tournament, tweaked his scoring template, searching for straight boundaries against the leg-spinner. But he couldn’t resist sweeping when Chahal pitched a yard shorter and the India T20I skipper was forced to reach out and ended up holing out to deep midwicket on 44 (26b).
Figures of 4-0-39-1 weren’t spectacular to look at, but to bowl his spell out in unfavourable conditions, the leading IPL wicket-taker again proved his worth. Consider Varma’s fall in the very next over on 44 (29b) to Jamieson, and MI, from 142/2 in the 13th were 142/4 in the 14th over. Their march towards a potentially imposing total had been jolted.
With Hardik’s wise head in play, MI was quick to reassess. Lacking batting depth, Hardik would only take calculated risks. Naman Dhir would free his arms more. Right through the tournament, Dhir has proven to be a worthy late-order hitter under Kieron Pollard’s watch. Again, it was his cameo (37 – 18b) that helped MI set up a target of 204.
Punjab bowlers’ pace-off short of length deliveries made batting difficult all the way through. But MI batters still had the skills, and experience, not to be strangled at any stage.