Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 2 : Shreyas Iyer rose to the occasion with a captain's knock that will be etched in Punjab Kings' (PBKS) history, as his unbeaten 87 off just 41 balls guided the franchise to a five-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the second qualifier of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at Ahmedabad on Monday. With this result, PBKS stormed into their second-ever IPL final, their first since 2014, ending an 11-year wait.
Chasing a challenging total of 204 against the five-time champions, Iyer remained the fulcrum of the innings, showing poise and power in equal measure but equally important was the contribution from Nehal Wadhera, who played a vital hand in the middle overs with a composed 48 off 29 deliveries, striking four boundaries and two sixes, and more importantly, forming a match-defining 84-run stand with his skipper.
Reflecting on his performance, Wadhera revealed his mindset heading into the high-stakes clash, "I just wait for such games, couldn't be more eager to play such a knock in a crucial game like the semi-final (Qualifier 2). This will be close to my heart."
Having been part of the Mumbai Indians setup in the past, Wadhera admitted that prior knowledge of the opposition helped him tailor his approach, "I have been with MI for two years and I have played them before, so I know what they could try and I changed a few things in my batting accordingly."
The southpaw was full of praise for Iyer's clarity and calm during the chase.
"He (Shreyas) was pretty clear that I just should see and hit the ball accordingly," Wadhera noted. "If it was on my radar, I would just go for it. I needed to convert the balls into boundaries and it turned out to be good," he noted.
His strategic hitting helped Punjab maintain the tempo of the chase. By the time Ashwani Kumar dismissed him, PBKS had already crossed the 150-run mark, with the equation well in their favour.
Wadhera also lauded his captain's ability to steer the innings under pressure, "He (Shreyas) is a chase master and proved it today as well. A lot of learnings from him and I hope we carry forward the momentum and win against RCB as well."
With Iyer finishing things off in style and the middle order contributing around him, PBKS crossed the finish line with an over to spare, setting up a title clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Tuesday in Ahmedabad.
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