Shreyas Iyer led from the front with an unbeaten 97 © IPL A blistering unbeaten 97 from skipper Shreyas Iyer, a powerful finish from Shashank Singh and a terrific exhibition of bowling at the death from impact sub Vijaykumar Vyshak helped a new-look Punjab Kings make a winning start to IPL 2025. Gujarat Titans were in the hunt for the major part of the chase despite having a daunting target of 244 in front of them, but they fell short in the end by a mere 11 runs. Where was the game won? Undoubtedly at the death. Punjab Kings powered by a stunning cameo from Shashank Singh hammered 87 runs from the final five overs – 77 from the final four. But when Gujarat Titans needed 70 from 30, their bowlers did enough to help their side pull through with Vyshak and Marco Jansen getting the job done. Punjab Kings PowerPlay – Priyansh Arya makes an early mark Phase score – 73/1 [RR: 12.16, 4s/6s: 9/3] India continues to produce top-class batting talent all the time. On Tuesday (March 25), it was the turn of Priyansh Arya to make a mark very early in his IPL career. He hit just the second ball he faced for a boundary and even though he received a big reprieve in the very next over, the left-hander took full toll of that costly drop and took on Mohammed Siraj again – an effortless flick for a six which was then followed by a boundary. Kagiso Rabada then gave Titans the breakthrough by sending Prabhsimran Singh back early but Shreyas Iyer walked out to the middle with intent for his new franchise and took the South African apart for a four and a six off his first four deliveries. Arshad Khan was the next to bear the brunt as he was welcomed into the attack by Arya with three delightful fours and a six. Overall, they smashed 73 in the powerplay with the young opener fetching 42 out of those. Middle overs – Sai Kishore and Shreyas dominate Phase score – 83/3 [RR: 9.22, 4s/6s: 5/7] After that powerplay, Titans had to rely on Rashid Khan to provide them the breakthrough. He gladly obliged as Arya top-edged one to miss a debut fifty by three runs. However, Rashid’s Afghanistan teammate Azmatullah Omarzai smashed him for a six first ball to signal his intentions. He then proceeded to hit Prasidh Krishna for a couple of boundaries but either side of that got worked over by Sai Kishore who bowled a brilliant spell. He was rewarded with wickets off successive deliveries as Omarzai and Glenn Maxwell departed to suddenly leave PBKS in a jittery spot. That still didn’t deter Shreyas though as he kickstarted Sai Kishore’s next over with two massive sixes. He was dealing only in sixes at one point as he then rounded off the following over from Rashid with two sixes as well to bring up a fifty. The ball continued to fly as Shreyas and Marcus Stoinis targetted Siraj for a six each to round off a terrific spell of play for the batting side. Death overs – The Shashank Singh show Phase score – 87/1 [RR: 17.6, 4s/6s: 8/6] Titans actually made a pretty good start to the final phase of the innings when Sai Kishore returned to pick up the big wicket of Stoinis. However, what followed suit was a stunning assault from the well-set Shreyas and new man Shashank Singh. The captain kickstarted the assault with a massive 24-run over that saw him clear the ropes three more times on the night to race to 90. But he still couldn’t get to his hundred despite staying unbeaten until the end because of a one-man show from Shashank. High on confidence after last season’s exploits, Shashank pulled Rashid for a six and lofted him straight down the ground for another big one to race to 20 off 7. In the final over, he denied Shreyas the strike with the skipper on 97 and faced all six deliveries to make the most of it. Siraj was clobbered to all parts of the ground as PBKS’ finisher found the boundary five times to ensure his side made a mind-boggling 77 runs from the final four overs. Gujarat Titans PowerPlay – Titans make up after slow start Phase score – 61/1 [RR: 10.16, 4s/6s: 3/5] Sai Sudharsan played a couple of delightful shots at the start but Omarzai and Arshdeep Singh still managed to keep him fairly quiet that ensured Titans made only 17 runs from the first three overs. That required Shubman Gill to take the initiative at the other end as he flicked the Afghan allrounder for a six and pulled another one over the ropes two balls later. Two more sixes – one from each opener – followed in Marco Jansen’s first over as Titans finally got a big move. However, Maxwell’s introduction in the final over of the powerplay proved to be a masterstroke for the bowling side as Gill miscued one terribly in his attempt to smash one down the ground that saw the skipper depart for a 14-ball 33. Middle overs – Titans stay in hunt Phase score – 113/1 [RR: 12.55, 4s/6s: 8/8] Just staying in the hunt needed a herculean effort from the Titans. But they managed to do that heading into the death overs as Sudharsan now started teeing off after Gill’s departure. Taking down Stoinis initially, the left-hander was also severe against Yuzvendra Chahal, allowing Jos Buttler time to settle in. Maxwell’s reintroduction didn’t work this time as both the batters clobbered a six each to send him out of the attack before Sudharsan took on Chahal again, fetching two fours and a six in an over to put the pressure back on the bowling side. Arshdeep came back into the attack to finally get rid of the well-set batter but Buttler and then impact sub Sherfane Rutherford got into the attack to launch an assault that brought down the equation to a gettable 75 off 36 with 8 wickets still in hand. Death overs – Impact Sub denies the Impact Sub Phase score – 58/3 [RR: 11.6, 4s/6s: 4/3] Vyshak’s introduction as an impact sub for PBKS made all the difference in the end. With six overs left, he started bowling from one end and kept nailing the wide yorker again and again, particularly to Rutherford, to turn the tide. He did miss his mark a few times to concede a few wides but given the amount of runs Titans needed, it didn’t matter much. Sandwiched between Vyshak’s first two overs was an excellent over from Jansen as those three overs saw Titans score only 18 runs. That meant the batting side something very special from the final three overs. Jansen gave away 12 runs from the 18th over which was superb from the bowling side’s point of view considering the state of the game and he also removed dangerman Buttler. Vyshak was finally picked apart for a couple of fours and a six in the penultimate over but once again, all those runs arrived only after the damage had already been done in the previous overs. With 27 needed from the final six deliveries, the game was done the moment Arshdeep clattered Rutherford’s stumps off the fourth delivery. Brief scores: Punjab Kings 243/5 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 97*, Priyansh Arya 47, Shashank Singh 44*; Sai Kishore 3/30) beat Gujarat Titans 232/5 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 74, Jos Buttler 54; Arshdeep Singh 2/36) by 11 runs What’s next for the teams? Titans would be disappointed losing that game after coming so close in the chase but they will have to pull themselves up quickly as Mumbai Indians arrive at their den for a game on Saturday with both teams looking for their first win. Punjab Kings on the other hand will get a pretty good break before their next clash on April 1 against Lucknow Super Giants in another away game. LSG would have played another game already before that clash.
