Punjab Kings 243 for 5 (Iyer 97*, Arya 47, Shashank 44*, Sai Kishore 3-30) beat Gujarat Titans 232 for 5 (Sudharsan 74, Buttler 54, Rutherford 46, Gill 33, Arshdeep 2-36) by 11 runs
New (or returning) players have hogged the limelight this first week of IPL 2025 and it was no different in Ahmedabad where last season's title-winning captain announced himself in grand style. Shreyas Iyer led Punjab Kings' batting line-up to their second-highest total of all time, and then victory over Gujarat Titans by 11 runs.
Iyer walks the talk
Iyer had a century for the taking. He was 97 off 42 when the final over began, but he did not face a single ball of it, having told his partner Shashank Singh not to worry about the landmark. He had said prior to the start of the season that he wanted to bat at No. 3 and he showed against GT the extent of damage he can do from there. His career-best IPL score included nine sixes. Only once in this tournament has he cleared the boundary more often, and to bat this way was a conscious decision.
Iyer knew PBKS needed a big score at a ground where chasing teams had won five of the last six IPL games. Dew plays a big part in that discrepancy and there was plenty of it on Tuesday evening. Keeping all that in mind, Iyer took every opportunity he was given to swing free. He flicked his fourth ball for six, off Kagiso Rabada. He pulverised Sai Kishore for two more, right after the left-arm spinner had picked up two wickets in two balls in his previous over. He even took down Rashid Khan, contributing two of the five sixes the legspinner had to contend with in his final analysis of 4-0-48-1. Iyer was so switched onto run-scoring opportunities that he spotted a wide from the non-strikers' end in the 15th over. When he came on strike for the extra ball, he hit that for six too.
A new face and an old face
Priyansh Arya got big ups from his coach Ricky Ponting in the pre-season and it does seem like he has the goods. The 24-year-old, left-hand opening batter was responsible for eight of his team's 12 boundaries in the powerplay, and considering he was facing Mohammed Siraj and Rabada, that's a big tick. Shashank was the other big performer for Punjab on the batting front. He came in with the death overs looming, so he knew he couldn't take any time to settle. He got to face 16 balls and sent half of them to the boundary, his best work coming when he took Siraj down in a final over that went for 23.
Sudharsan shines
Sai Sudharsan made a hundred the last time he batted here in the IPL, against CSK, whom he had flayed all around the park in the final those two teams played as well. He's got the big match temp down. He hasn't been shown up by any kind of bowling just yet. T20 might actually not be his best format. It requires him to push a little harder than his game allows right now. Imagine him in Test whites, though, with all the time in the world to construct an innings. It can't be all that long before India throw him in. There's an England tour coming up and he's played first-class cricket there the past two seasons. In this game, he made 74 off 41 and took off when Titans ransacked 87 runs in the six overs from the ninth to the 14th. Titans were ahead of Punjab by 30 runs at this stage of the game (169 vs 139, with two fewer wickets lost). Jos Buttler, at No. 3 for his new team, helped himself to a fifty as well.
Big impact from Vyshak
Vijaykumar Vyshak had only just been subbed on before he was given the ball for the 15th over. He ran in with just one thing in mind. Hitting the blockhole, which wasn't all that easy given the dew that was around. A few of his deliveries became wide full-tosses but he didn't care. For two overs, the 15th and 17th, he pitched every single ball, including the extras, at a full length. There was nothing even on a good length. Thanks to that combination of clarity and execution, he only gave away 10 runs in those 12 balls and sucked all the momentum out of the Titans innings. Where Punjab made 77 runs in their last five overs, Titans could only cobble together 50.
