They forged an unbeaten 81-run stand.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Shashank Singh revealed that Shreyas Iyer told him not to worry about the latter’s century during the team’s 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) opener against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Shashank was on strike for the final over of Punjab Kings’ innings, and at this time, Shreyas was unbeaten on 97 at the other end.
Facing Mohammed Siraj, Shashank slammed five boundaries in the final over, leaving no time for Shreyas to score a century.
“Shreyas Iyer told me from ball one of the last over to not try and get him on strike for just the sake of his century. He asked me to score as many runs as possible and maximise every delivery,” Shashank told official broadcasters Star Sports during the mid-innings break.
Shreyas walked out to bat at No.3 following the dismissal of Prabhsimran Singh (5) in the fourth over. He forged a 51-run stand with Priyansh Arya, who scored 47 runs on his debut IPL match. Following Priyansh’s dismissal, Shreyas was briefly accompanied by Azmatullah Omarzai (16 runs off 15 balls).
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Glenn Maxwell was dismissed for a golden duck, leading to Marcus Stoinis walking out to bat at No.6. The former Kolkata Knight Riders skipper forged a half-century stand with Stoinis. The Australian allrounder, however, was caught by Arshad Khan at short third while going for a reverse sweep.
Shahank was unbeaten on 44 runs from 16 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes. Punjab Kings cruised to 243/5 at the end of 20 overs. At the time of writing this report, Gujarat Titans were 61/1 after six overs, with Sai Sudharsan (25*) and Jos Buttler (0*) at the crease. Shubman Gill was dismissed for 33 by Glenn Maxwell in the sixth over.
Shashank was one of the two players Punjab Kings had retained ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Prabhsimran Singh was the other player.
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