Shreyas Iyer’s 87 in Qualifier 2 vs Mumbai Indians: One of the greatest knockout Innings in IPL history? Shreyas Iyer takes Punjab Kings to IPL 2025 final.
Shreyas Iyer was in the zone when he hammered 87 not out against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Qualifier 2 to lead Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. He was leading a chase of 204. Notably, MI had never failed to defend a 200+ score, successfully defending such scores 18 times until Qualifier 2, to be exact.
However, Iyer slammed four sixes in the penultimate over to wrap up the chase and book PBKS a spot in the final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Iyer’s innings had many phases. Interestingly, he paced his knock brilliantly to not only play as per the demands of the situation, but also the enormity of the game at hand.
Shreyas Iyer begins watchfully
Iyer was guilty of throwing his wicket away in Qualifier 1 against RCB when he attempted a wild slog to a length delivery from Josh Hazlewood. That too, at a time when the team needed him to stay put at the wicket. Thankfully, the PBKS skipper made amends in Qualifier 2 and ensured he didn’t look to play too many shots straight away.
He bided his time in the middle, letting Josh Inglish and Nehal Wadhera to hog the limelight later on. However, it may be recalled that Iyer scored a four on the second ball he faced during his innings. Contrastingly, he quickly realised to bat deeper while others take a few extra risks to get those big hits. Iyer’s next four came 10 balls later, on the 12th ball of his innings.
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Wadhera dominates middle-overs, Iyer explodes briefly
Iyer allowed Wadhera to dominate the middle-overs, while he held one end up. The two posted a match-winning stand of 84 runs for the fourth wicket. Wadhera made 48 runs of the 84-run stand. Iyer opened up only in the 13th over of the chase as the required rate crept close to 12. He struck three straight sixes off Recee Topley’s over to switch the momentum in Punjab’s favour.
Till then, Iyer was batting on 19 off 15, and by the end of 13th over, he jumped to 37 off 20 – a jump from a strike rate of 125 to nearly 200 in a matter of an over. In overs 7 to 15, Iyer jumped from 5 off 4 to 41 off 24, making 36 runs from 20 balls at a strike rate of close to 200. Iyer played risk-free cricket, mixing it up with controlled aggression to keep his team in the hunt to chase down a challenging 12 runs per over at the death.
Calculative Iyer explodes at the death
Shreyas Iyer planned his innings brilliantly, anticipating which opposition bowler will bowl at what point in the game and which bowler to target. His shot selection was also clever and innovative, frustrating Mumbai’s bowlers despite bowling well.
After Wadhela and Shashank Singh’s departure, Iyer took the matter into his own hands. He hit two fours off Trent Boult in the 17th over of the innings and one four off Jasprit Bumrah in the 18th over of the innings. All these fours were cleverly placed behind the keeper through a glide of yorker-length balls. These quirky fours helped Punjab keep the required run-rate in check.
Knowing Mumbai had to go for the least experienced bowler in Ashwani Kumar for the 19th over, Iyer exploded to smash four sixes and seal the win, not letting the match reach the last over. In between overs 16 to 19, Iyer scored 46 runs off 17 balls with three fours and five sixes. He scored 46 runs off the last 60 runs scored by his team. The sixth wicket stand of 38 runs saw Iyer scoring 34 runs with four sixes and two fours. His strike rate in this phase was a mind-numbing 270.
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What a staggering return from @PunjabKingsIPL led by the best captain of the tournament. This from #ShreyasIyer is one of the finest innings of the tournament.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) June 1, 2025
Shreyas Iyer, the thoughtful cricketer
Iyer played one of the best knocks in IPL history. Particularly notable was his brilliant pacing of the innings. He looked calm throughout the knock, never got perturbed even as wickets fell at the other end. He was calculative, targeting bowlers against whom he could get the big hits, while using his skills to hit some smart fours behind the stumps against premier pacers like Bumrah and Boult.
Shreyas Iyer’s knock is even special as a lot rested on him to guide the team through as their skipper. For once, he kept this captaincy load behind to not add any undue pressure on himself. Instead, he played as a thoughtful cricketer to get his team past the finish line. Very few cricketers flourish under pressure as a leader, and Iyer is evidently one of them. Players like him bring their ‘A’ game in crunch situations, when it matters the most.
“I love such big occasions and I always say to myself and my colleagues that the bigger the occasion, the calmer you are. And, you’ll get the best results,” Iyer said in the post-match presentation. He indeed walked the talk!
Pressure's loud. Those maximums were louder 🚀
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) June 1, 2025
🎥 Captain Shreyas Iyer puts #PBKS on the brink of a seat in the GRAND FINAL ❤
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Read More: IPL 2025, Qualifier 2, PBKS vs MI: IPL to get a new champion as Punjab meet Bengaluru in the final
