Iyer’s captaincy debut with Punjab Kings started off strong after his incredible innings of 97 not out off just 42 balls, leading his team to triumph over the Gujarat Titans by 11 runs in their Indian Premier League match on Tuesday. Following Iyer’s impressive batting display, he was supported by Shashank Singh, who bludgeoned 44 runs off just 16 balls, resulting in PBKS scoring an astonishing 243 runs for 5 wickets. In the end, GT lost the match as they were stuck at 232 runs for 5 wickets. Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler performed incredibly, scoring 74 runs from 41 balls and 54 runs from 33 balls, respectively.
Iyer scored his runs with the help of 9 sixes and 5 fours, unable to score a hundred due to Shashank’s explosive finish to the innings where he scored 23 runs in the final over.
Shank’s outstanding innings included 6 fours and 2 sixes.
PBKS scored a tremendous amount of 135 runs in 8 overs, making the GT Death Bowlers look subpar. Alongside that, GT’s fielding was also exceptionally poor.
Iyer’s shot selection was fantastic, and he showed spider sense for the short ball, a delivery that had previously troubled him.
In total, GT amassed 244 runs, starting with an impressive 61-run opening partnership between Sudharsan and Shubman Gill in 6 overs. Unfortunately, the home team captain suffered the consequences of trying to dominate after hitting a disappointing edge whilst trying to hit a Glenn Maxwell ball, departing the pitch in just 14 balls after scoring 33 runs.
Jos Butler came in to replace Sudharsan at the half inning, and the two kept GT in the chase by scoring at an almost superhuman pace. Unfortunately, Sudharsan’s impressive run came to a stop at 84 after stepping out to whip a simple Arshdeep Sing ball, effortlessly timing it, then watching as he failed to reach the desired height to avoid getting caught.
Everybody knew the game was still highly contested as long as Buttler remained on the pitch, with Sudharsan bowing out along with Buttler’s two sixes combined with four off of Marcus Stoinis providing some much-needed hope for the home team.
GT, with their nose ahead, were pulled back down to earth after a brilliant medium break from substitute bowler Vijaykumar Vyshak saw a slowed Stoinis dip the run average before the 15th over to just five.
With GT chasing a target of 70 runs in 30 balls, Marco Jansen was injected back into the attack and did not make it any easier for the batting side by giving away only 8 runs in his over. Jansen’s efforts certainly did not help the team’s chances of winning.
Despite conceding three wides, Vyshak bowled another tight over that GT failed to achieve, leaving 57 runs in 18 balls.
Earlier, priama-who shot an aggressively pitched 47 off 23 made sure he did not hold back against the GT bowling attack.
Arya was bought by PBKS for a whopping 3.8 crores in the last IPL auction and to announce his arrival, he hit Saqib over deep square leg for a stunning first six followed up with a magnificent four.
Kagiso made the first breakthrough when Prabhsimran Singh was caught in the deep. This allowed new PBKS captain Iyer to stride out to the middle, and he began his innings with a breathtaking drive on the up for a four before flicking the seasoned South African bowler for six over deep square.
During the fifth over, Arya smashed 24-year-old left-arm pacer Arshad Khan for 21 runs, hitting three fours and a six on the offside. His most impressive shot of the evening came from a breathtaking straight drive, which sailed past the bowler and turned into a four.
Arya then proceeded to drive Rabada, moving the PBKS total in the power play to 73 runs for the loss of a single wicket by hitting a boundary through extra cover.
The GT skipper wasted no time in introducing spin with Rashid Khan and as always, the magician from Afghanistan delivered by getting Arya out when he was starting to feel confident. It wasn’t the most skillful of dismissals, as Arya managed to get a top edge with a sharply turning delivery that had some bounce but also was relatively low.
In an exciting moment, counterpart Rahid was bested by Azamatulah Omarzai, who launched a first ball six directly over the bowler’s head, completing an awe-inspiring goal.
Now, left to R Sai Kishore, he shocked everyone around by spinning off two perfectly executed two balls to clean bowl Omarzai and Glenn Maxwell. This left PBKS in a dreadful position of 105/4 at the start of the 11th over.
On the other hand, the batter from India had a clear path to a fifty with Iyer’s assistance of 27 balls. Iyer first went to Sai Kishore to loft for a long off, which was indeed a six, followed by yet another maximum that came right after a boundary was hit by Marcus Stoinis which led to 17 runs off the over.
Now, Iyer is able to assist Rashid, who receives Iyer’s rampage for two consecutive sixes, which were smashed, starting with straight down the ground and over the deep wickets.
Stoinis and Iyer were able to get six runs out of Siraj, who was brought back into the attack.
