Hardik Pandya found it difficult to ask him challenging questions because he had an answer for every query the Mumbai Indians threw at him.
In the zone, Shreyas Iyer was appropriate. It’s the kind of place where you lose track of your location. Breaking out of that hypnosis takes time.
He gave Shashank Singh a shady look as he was making his way back from leading a third team into an IPL final while using his left hand to shake palms and shield a supposedly wounded right hand. To determine what he said, a skilled lipreader is not necessary. “Don’t come close to me” is the English translation. The most frequent Hindi profanity comes next.
The competition had inflamed this man. In order to successfully chase down 200-plus against Mumbai Indians (MI) for the first time in the 18-year history of the IPL, he hit 87 not out of 41 for any club, in this case the Punjab Kings (PBKS). MI is feared by all due to their high success rate in important matches. MI, who entered this match with an 18-7 playoff and knockout record. MI was on a high after defeating Gujarat Titans (GT), the top IPL team over the previous four years.
Iyer, however, was nonetheless aware of Shashank’s failure to complete the task. that he had walked the first part of the run he was unable to finish. Under the surface, Iyer is a fierce competitor who is calm, focused on his own breathing, and drops big words one interview at a time (“stupendous” on this night, in case you were wondering). He is also a dancer who everyone wants to produce reels with. He said he was “locked in”
A highlights reel of his incredible catches is available to Trent Boult. With many fast bowlers, you can’t say that. However, mistakes will inevitably remain with you the longer you play and the more you risk. When he caught Ben Stokes in the 2019 World Cup final, he ultimately touched the rope. The left-hander Nehal Wadhera, whose middle-field presence prevented Mitchell Santner from bowling his third and fourth overs, was dropped here.
GT continued to promote left-handers and hold back M Shahrukh Khan even in the most recent game. Santner bowled just one over for ten runs and a wicket as a result. This IPL, he has hit left-handers at 9.12 an over and 73 runs per wicket, compared to 7.61 and 26.66 against right-handers. Therefore, there was good reason not to bowl Santner. It was something that had previously worked for them, as their coach Mahela Jayawardene stated, particularly considering that they had bowling options.
Hardik Pandya did, in fact, choose the riskier course that evening and bowled Santner at Wadhera. If Naman Dhir hadn’t misread the ball at deep midwicket and then threw it for a four, Santner would have removed him. Wadhera was then relieved by Boult from Hardik’s bowling. Because Iyer occurred just as he would have been setting the groundwork for the next daring action, we will never know if he would have had the guts to trust Santner again.
In the eleventh over, Ashwani Kumar was dismissed for a mere four. After going for 20 in his first, Jasprit Bumrah gave up seven in the 12th. With two Bumrah overs under MI’s sleeve and eight overs remaining, we were now at two runs per ball. Perhaps Hardik thought he had to exert a little more effort before he could go shopping. Due to injuries to Deepak Chahar and Richard Gleeson, who replaced him, he brought in Reece Topley to play in his first game of the season.
In the powerplay, Topley had bowled two good overs, but Iyer, who was already 19 off 15, felt he would get him. At this point, Iyer’s development as a T20 hitter became evident. Himanish Ganjoo tweeted earlier in the day that batters were slogging length balls far more often than they had till 2023. Iyer played zero slogs to length deliveries from fast bowlers in 2022 and 2023. He has done so to 11.39% of good-length balls in 2024 and 2025.
At 8.86 meters, Topley’s first ball to Iyer was just there. Just a bit too short for good length. Even more of an excuse not to slog it. However, Iyer slogged it. The slog was not strong. In keeping with Iyer’s advice, he made sure not to overdo it. The MI bowlers then collectively lost their execution. Iyer hit eight sixes off the MI fast bowlers, six of which came off slot balls that were pitched between four and six meters. Iyer was ruthless with those. He barely missed one of the seven that they offered him.
There is no secret to planning, according to people with extensive experience playing and coaching the sport at the greatest levels. The execution on the day is more important in the sport. Jayawardene made it apparent that they performed poorly. These slot balls were all either yorkers that were too short or length balls that were pitched too full. The bowlers weren’t as good at execution as Iyer was. The bowlers weren’t locked in, but Iyer was. Sherfane Rutherford toe-ended one of these slot balls the other day. Iyer didn’t.
But it wasn’t just about making money off of lost balls. Iyer outperformed the bowlers, even when they performed well. They would also bowl seven yorkers if they threw seven slot balls to him. with a slight tailing of the ball. For three fours, two to the left and one to the right of short third, Iyer led them behind square. He hit seven yorkers for 13 runs.
These days, power hitting is so effective that having third back in the last overs is practically impossible. Iyer transformed the best balls that Bumrah and Boult, the two powerful bowlers for MI, could throw at him into fours. It was bold to take one off Bumrah’s yorker. If Iyer hadn’t dabbed it fine of short third, this ball would have landed 18cm in front of the middle stump after swinging 0.57 degrees, which is just enough to cause you to change your alignment from the starting line.
What’s left after Iyer scored boundaries off yorkers and smashed the slot balls mercilessly? The short ball, ah. He scored 28 runs off 13 balls pitched shorter than 6 metres, including Hardik’s charmingly carefree afterthought of a ramp off a slower bouncer.
Iyer had a fantastic day in the field as well. The team that won the toss ended up making the incorrect choice for the third consecutive playoff game. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had few to chase in the second innings, despite the ball moving around much more in the first. MI faced massive quantities of dew in the second, but Bumrah bowled them out of the game.
When they made the decision to field, PBKS, or the Ahmedabad weather people, had no idea it would rain. It started to rain before the game started and continued to do so intermittently for over two hours. They quickly turned on the game when it finally stopped.
Now, PBKS had to deal with a damp ball. Yuzvendra Chahal, their match-winning legspinner, was making a recovery, albeit his bowling hand was still not fully recovered. Iyer continued to have faith in his big player even after Suryakumar Yadav used three sixes to improve his unfavorable matchup against Chahal. Chahal claimed the wicket of Suryakumar in his last over, costing MI roughly 20 runs.
PBKS simply persisted throughout the first inning. Even though Vijaykumar Vyshak had an over left, their coaching staff was a little taken aback when Iyer resorted to Azmatullah Omarzai – 2-0-24-0 – at the end. Iyer simply followed his instincts, according to bowling coach James Hopes, and Omarzai provided him two overs for 19 and the wickets of Hardik and Dhir.
Iyer won to go to the final far after midnight, hence the final is “tomorrow” rather than “the day after.” He is the first captain to have led two separate teams to the IPL final in consecutive years and the only one to have led more than one team to the final. Hold on, what gives him three teams? Why was he discharged right away after taking home the title?
When the Delhi Capitals (DC) let him go, he was just another anchor, to be fair. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) didn’t exactly demonstrate how desperate they were to keep their victorious leader.
They’ll relocate one pitch to the side tomorrow. onto the same surface where Iyer performed actions that his team still finds meaningful. Pitch No. 6 in Ahmedabad, the mixed-soil field in the center of the square, hosted their inaugural IPl 2025 game. He made a statement by lofting Kagiso Rabada’s hard length over mid-on in his first ball as a member of a new squad.
Iyer’s last act with the bat was a statement for his own squad, if his first act was a statement for the outside world. When the final over started, he was 97 not out but not on strike. Shashank was pleased with one to give Iyer the strike after hitting the second ball to deep midwicket, but Iyer shoved Shashank for the second. 23 came off the last over, but Iyer never recovered the strike. PBKS prevailed by a margin of 11. Iyer has yet to score an IPL century.
Iyer will face the much-improved RCB, who had defeated them twice in their last two meetings, on the same field. At the same location in 2023, he suffered a deep heartbreak with a teammate from India. Over the past two years, they have both significantly developed as T20 hitters. Even though his lone team hasn’t won the IPL, Virat Kohli has received unwavering love from them. Despite winning the IPL, Iyer has not received the unwavering support of a team. or the T20I team from India. He even lost his national contract in the interim.
On Tuesday night, only one of the two will be comforted.
