Punjab Kings were all out for 101 and lost the match by eight wickets
Shreyas Iyer was supposed to be the maverick captain who would send Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 by playing a responsible knock against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Qualifier 1 on Thursday.
There was early trouble for his team as they lost openers Priyansh Arya (7) and Prabhsimran Singh (18) for paltry scores within the third over. The Mumbaikar had bailed his side out of trouble on multiple occasions this season and the clash in Mullanpur that warranted him to do it again.
But Shreyas went attacking from his first ball against Josh Hazlewood and missed. He tried to disrupt the Australian’s rhythm by playing against the line but was surprised by the seam movement off the pitch and nicked it to the keeper.
Three balls and two runs was all Shreyas could do with the bat as his teammates followed suit, being reduced to 60/7 within nine overs. If not for Marcus Stoinis’ 26 off 17 balls, they wouldn’t have reached three-figures total.
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While some expected they could defend a total at their home just like they did with 111 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the league stage, RCB batters dispatched the target in just 10 overs to register a thumping victory.
Former Punjab Kings coach Tom Moody felt that Shreyas should’ve been cautious against the movement Hazlewood was getting before taking the attack to the RCB bowlers, instead of charging at the new ball.
“The first ball he played and missed – the perfect line that you’d expect Hazlewood to bowl. He sort of played at it, but didn’t really want to play at it. And then, that third ball he got out. To me, he totally misread the game situation and his own situation,” Moody said on ESPNCricinfo show Time-Out.
The former Australia captain felt that the best thing for Shreyas would’ve been to leave his ego out and fix the early loss of wickets.
“At times, you need to put your ego in your pocket and just move forward. To me that was the perfect example of not reading the situation – trying to overcome something that has been a darkness in the past instead of just swallowing your pride and just moving on by just accumulating. You only had to see Hazlewood out. It was a simple thing – see him out and look to dissect the rest of their attack,” Moody added.
Leg-spinner Suyash Sharma was the wrecker-in-chief for RCB with 3-17 while Hazlewood razed through Josh Inglis and Shreyas along with the wicket of Azmatullah Omarzai to get to 21 wickets for the season.
PBKS will now face the winner of the Eliminator between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 2 on June 1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
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