Punjab Kings won the match by 37 runs.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed a masterstroke by skipper Shreyas Iyer, which helped the team edge the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their home fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Earlier in the season, PBKS had defeated LSG by eight wickets at the Ekana Stadium.
The coach stated that it was Shreyas’ call to send Josh Inglis in his batting position of No.3. He insisted on promoting the Australian wicketkeeper-batter in their lineup after opener Priyash Arya departed for 1 (4).
“It was actually a move that the captain came up with. He thought on that sort of pitch, against that bowling attack, that it would be the right thing to, if a wicket fell early, to send Inglis in,” said Ponting at the post-match press conference.
The PBKS coach had agreed with the captain’s move. Considering the Western Australia player’s short-ball strength, they decided to send him early in the innings to counter LSG speedster Mayank Yadav.
“We felt that Mayank would bowl early on. If you look at the way he bowls, he generally bowls reasonably short. And that’s one of Inglis’ great strengths, as you saw tonight. Those pull shots were pretty amazing straight away,” he opined.
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He also explained how Inglis’ sudden batting-order promotion brought a surprise element into the LSG dugout. The move proved to be right for PBKS as the 30-year-old put up a 14-ball-30. He played the cameo at a blistering strike rate of 214.28 and provided a strong start to their innings last night.
“It was probably a surprise call for LSG to see him [Inglis] go out [at No.3] and it paid off for us tonight. We bat really, really deep and it allows our top order to play with a lot of freedom. I think we were 70-odd [66] at the end of the powerplay, all the momentum was going with us. And to bat first and get that sort of total was a great effort,” concluded the coach.
Alongside Inglis, opener Prabhsimran Singh notched up 91 runs off just 48 balls after the visitors put them to bat first in Dharamsala. Skipper Shreyas Iyer contributed with a 45-run knock (25) before another fiery finish from Shashank Singh (33 off 15). PBKS put on a huge 236/5 on the scoreboard.
Apart from youngsters Ayush Badoni and Abdul Samad, no other LSG batter put up a fight in the chase. They scored 74 (40) and 45 (24) runs, respectively. Pacer Avesh Khan also hit a 10-ball-19, but LSG only managed to reach 199/7 in 20 overs.
With this victory, PBKS reached 15 points and are currently placed second in the league table. They need at least one more win out of the three remaining matches to secure their IPL 2025 playoff spot.
Shreyas and Co. will next clash against the Delhi Capitals at the same venue on May 8.
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