Iyer slams Punjab Kings to win over Gujarat Titans

cricket25 March 2025 18:19| © MWP
By:Ross Roche
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      An unbeaten 97 from captain Shreyas Iyer helped the Punjab Kings claim an 11-run win over the Gujarat Titans in another high-scoring batting-dominated IPL classic at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday night.

      Iyer smoked nine sixes and five fours in his incredible 42-ball knock, and was ably assisted by Priyansh Arya, 47 off 23 balls (7x4; 1x6), and an explosive cameo from Shashank Singh, 44* off 16 (6x4; 2x6), at the end of their innings as they powered to a big 243-5.

      With the huge totals that have been seen in the IPL over the past two seasons, almost any score is chaseable, and so it proved again as Sai Sudharsan, 74 off 41 (5x4; 6x6), Jos Buttler, 54 off 33 (4x4; 2x6), Sherfane Rutherford, 46 off 28 (4x4; 3x6), and captain Shubman Gill, 33 off 14 (2x4; 3x6), helped Gujarat get close as they ended on 232-5.

      The Gujarat chase got off to a great start as Sudharsan and Gill shared 61 for the first wicket, but just before the end of the powerplay Gill popped a catch to Arya at cover point off the bowling of Glenn Maxwell, leaving them on 61-1 at the end of the powerplay.

      That brought Buttler in to join Sudharsan and they combined for an 84-run stand off just 40 balls, to keep their side well in the hunt.

      But Sudharsan’s wicket in the 13th over, caught at deep midwicket by Shashank off the bowling of Arshdeep Singh, proved to be the turning point, with the score on 145-2.

      As incredible as it may seem, Buttler and Rutherford’s strike rates, at just a shade over 160, were just not good enough down the back end, leaving too much to do in the final few overs.

      Buttler was bowled by Marco Jansen with the last ball of the 18th over, with the score 199-3, and with 45 needed off the last two overs, which became 27 off the last.

      It proved to be a bridge too far as Rahul Tewatia (6) was run out and Rutherford was bowled by Arshdeep in the final over.

      ABSOLUTE CARNAGE

      At the start of play Gujarat won the toss and chose to bowl first, but they were unable to stop Punjab from getting off to a solid start as 28 came off the first three overs.

      However, Kagiso Rabada made the breakthrough at the start of the fourth over, as Prabhsimran Singh (5) slashed him straight to Arshad Khan at third man, leaving them on 28-1.

      That brough Iyer to the crease and together with Arya they tore into the rest of the powerplay, smashing them to 73-1 by the end of the sixth over.

      Rashid Khan was the next to make a breakthrough, as he had Arya caught off a top edge at short cover by Sudharsan, with the score 79-2.

      That seemed to help put the breaks on, as despite Azmatullah Omarzai hitting his first ball for six, he struggled a bit on his way to 16 off 15 balls, as they reached the halfway mark on 104-2.

      A fantastic 11th over bowled  by Sai Kishore saw him remove Omarzai, caught at deep midwicket, and trap Maxwell LBW for a first-ball duck as Gujarat slipped to 105-4.

      But that just set Iyer off as he dominated a 57-run fifth-wicket partnership off 28 balls with Marcus Stoinis (20), before Kishore picked up his third, having Stoinis caught at short third man off a reverse sweep.

      It was then absolute carnage in the closing overs as Shashank came to the crease and along with Iyer dispatched the ball to all corners of the ground as an incredible 81 runs came off the final 28 (legal) balls of the innings.

      Iyer was incredibly unlucky not to get his century as he didn’t face any of the last seven balls, while Kishore emerged with pretty impressive figures of 3-30 in his four overs, with the rest of the bowling attack going at over 10 runs an over.

      PUNJAB KINGS: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Suryansh Shedge, Azamatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

      GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, R Sai Kishore, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna