At the crease, Shashank Singh was just ten balls old. At the other end, his captain Shreyas Iyer was at 97 with one over remaining in the Punjab Kings’ innings against the Gujarat Titans. Having hit nine sixes and never reaching an IPL hundred, he was the set batter.
Shashank, however, claimed that he was instructed “to hit every ball for a four and a six,” disregarding the possibility of handing Shreyas a strike. In their IPL 2025 opener, he did exactly that, hitting five fours to grab 23 runs off the last over and leading PBKS to 243 for 5, which was just 11 runs too much for GT to chase.
“I didn’t see the scoreboard to be very honest, but after the first ball I hit, I saw the scoreboard and Shreyas was on 97,” Shashank stated following the game. “He just arrived and told me not to worry about his hundred, but I was ready to ask him whether I should take a single or whatever. Saying that requires a lot of bravery and guts since, as is evident, hundreds are difficult to come by in T20, particularly in the IPL. I felt much more confident after that.
PBKS scored 77 off the final four overs thanks to an undefeated 81 off just 28 balls from Iyer and Shashank.
Iyer faced just four balls in the final three overs of the innings while batting at No. 3 for the first time since 2022 in the IPL. Iyer finished undefeated with 97 off 42, while Shashank scored 44 off 16.
According to Shashank, who started his domestic career with Mumbai before relocating to Chhattisgarh, “It’s a team game we all know, but then in those situations, it’s difficult to be that selfless but Shreyas was one.” “He hasn’t changed in the fifteen years that I’ve known him. By God’s grace, I believe we had a successful conclusion. He instructed me to remain composed, play my typical cricketing shots, and keep my balance.
Sai Sudharsan’s 74 off 41 balls kept GT on track as they attempted to pull off the second-highest chase in the IPL. As GT amassed 87 runs in the six overs between 9 and 14, Jos Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford continued to deliver the huge hits. With heavy dew impeding the bowlers, the target of 75 from 36 balls appeared attainable until an outstanding spell by PBKS’ Impact Player Vijaykumar Vyshak.
PBKS put together three overs without giving up a boundary, while Vyshak bowled ten dot balls and gave up just ten runs in his opening two overs. GT was unable to bounce back from the setback.
“Shreyas is a skipper who relies on instinct. He’s among the world’s top captains at the moment because of this,” Shashank remarked. “Even I believe that Vyshak’s bowling style and the timing of his arrival were ideal. We typically arrange all of those things during the bowling meeting. Thus, this was a prearranged event. He did a great job carrying out the idea. Because there was some dew, he bowled such hard overs.
“You must prevail in these situations. When Vyshak arrived, he was flawless. Bowling those yorkers is really tough, but he did his job flawlessly, so congratulations to him.”
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