Punjab Kings (PBKS) demolished five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in qualifier 2 of the IPL 2025 played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, June 1. The victory helped the Kings qualify for the IPL 2025 final which will be played at the same venue on Tuesday, June 3.
Rains forced the match to start late. Shreyas won the toss and opted to field first. A couple of useful knocks of 40s by Tilak Varma (44 in 29 deliveries) and Suryakumar Yadav (44 in 26 deliveries) helped Mumbai post a score of 203/6 in 20 overs.
Shreyas then led the charge in Punjab’s run chase as he hammered an unbeaten 87 not out in 41 balls. His innings consisted of five fours and eight sixes. Shreyas was backed by former Mumbai Indians player Nehal Wadhera who chipped in with an innings of 48 in 29 deliveries. Thanks largely to Shreyas’ impactful innings, Punjab reached the target in 19 overs with 5 wickets to spare. It is now the highest successful chase by a team in a IPL playoff/knock-out game.
By steering Punjab to their second IPL final, first since 2014, Shreyas achieved a unique feat which no player before him had managed to accomplished.
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When he leads PBKS in the IPL 2025 final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, he will become the only captain to have led three different teams in an IPL final.
Last year under his captaincy Kolkata Knight Riders won their third IPL title when they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets in the final. Strangely, KKR did not retain their captain ahead of the IPL auction. At the auction Shreyas was picked by the Kings for a whooping ₹3.18 crore and became the league’s second-most expensive player after Rishabh Pant.
Considering his success with KKR last year, Punjab Kings wasted little time to appoint the 30-year-old as the team’s captain. And the team’s decision has been validated as they now stand at the cusp of winning their first-ever IPL title. Not only has Shreyas impressed as a captain, he has also made made his bat do the talking. He has accumulated 603 runs this season at an average of 54.82 and a strike rate of 175.80. This is the sixth-most number of runs by a batter in IPL 2025 and most by a Punjab Kings player. His 38 sixes this term are the most number of maximums smashed by a PBKS batter in single IPL season.
Shreyas had a similar run in 2020 with Delhi Capitals. Under his captaincy, Delhi qualified for their first-ever IPL final. That year he amassed 519 runs in 17 games which placed him fourth of the list of the batters with the most runs in that season. Unfortunately the team and the player could not realise their dream of lifting the IPL trophy as they ran into a rampant Mumbai Indians side in the final.
This year though Shreyas looks steadfast to take Punjab all the way as was evident from his comments following the victory over Mumbai.
“I love such big occasions. I always say to myself and to my colleagues in the team that the bigger the occasion, the calmer you are, you get the big results,” Shreyas said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
Prakhar Sachdeo
The Sportz Planet Desk
