Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 87 leads Punjab Kings to IPL final win over Mumbai Indians

Photo : AFP

Punjab Kings batter Shreyas Iyer played a captain’s innings as the team defeated Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the second qualifier of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday. This win takes Punjab Kings to the final after 11 years.

Punjab Kings won the toss and chose to bowl first. The match was delayed by rain for over two hours, but no overs were lost, and the game finished after 1:30 AM.

Mumbai Indians set a target of 204 runs. Chasing this, Shreyas Iyer played brilliantly, scoring an unbeaten 87 runs off just 41 balls. He hit eight big sixes and helped Punjab reach the target comfortably.

Punjab Kings will now face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final on Tuesday at the same stadium. This match will decide a new IPL champion since Bengaluru has lost the final three times before, in 2009, 2011, and 2016. Punjab had lost to Bengaluru earlier in the playoffs but now get a second chance to win their first-ever IPL trophy.

Iyer, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title last year before joining Punjab Kings, said, “I love big occasions. I tell my team that the bigger the occasion, the calmer you should be. We should not dwell on our previous loss because we have played really well all season. One match does not define us.”

Mumbai Indians started well when Rohit Sharma got out early in the third over. But Jonny Bairstow scored 38 runs and Tilak Varma added 44 runs before Suryakumar Yadav hit three sixes and four boundaries in his quick 44 runs. Mumbai looked set for a big score, but Yuzvendra Chahal took Suryakumar’s wicket. Azmatullah Omarzai also took two wickets, including that of Mumbai’s captain Hardik Pandya, limiting Mumbai to 203 runs for 6 wickets.

Stay informed with the latest news. Follow DXB News Network on WhatsApp Channel  

In reply, Punjab Kings scored 64 runs in the first six overs, with Josh Inglis scoring 38 runs. Then Shreyas Iyer and Nehal Wadhera built a strong partnership of 84 runs for the fourth wicket. Iyer started hitting freely, smashing three sixes in a row in one over by Reece Topley, which cost Mumbai a lot of runs.

Wadhera got lucky a few times with some loose shots but managed to find the boundary and kept the scoreboard moving. He scored 48 runs before getting out. Iyer reached his half-century in just 27 balls and even managed to hit a boundary off a yorker from Jasprit Bumrah, one of Mumbai’s best bowlers.

Iyer then hit another six off Ashwani Kumar and cleared the boundary three more times in the 19th over, which went for 26 runs. Punjab won the game with one over left to play.

Hardik Pandya, disappointed with the loss, said, “The way Iyer batted, he took his chances well. Some of his shots were really excellent.”

With this win, Punjab Kings have made it to the IPL final and will look to lift their first-ever trophy when they play Royal Challengers Bengaluru.