In Punjab Kings’ IPL 2025 opener against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, skipper Shreyas Iyer’s batting prowess was so overwhelming that his outstanding leadership almost went unrecognized. He had an almost flawless T20 innings with 97 runs off 42 balls and nine sixes*. The most unselfish moment, however, was when Iyer, who was just three runs away from his first IPL century, urged Shashank Singh to hit as many boundaries as he could in the last over.

This selfless act made an already amazing knock more sweeter. However, a huge total of 243/5 indicated that Gujarat Titans (GT) would always put up a fierce fight, as is often the case in the IPL.

However, the two teams’ death bowling was the main factor that separated them in the game. When it came their time to bowl, PBKS carried out their strategies much better than GT, whose bowlers were thrashed by Iyer and Shashank in the last overs. Power hitters like Jos Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford were well restrained by the three of Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, and Marco Jansen. Captain Iyer deserves a lot of the credit for his astute field placements, deft bowling adjustments, and—most importantly—his choice to use Vyshak as the Impact Sub.

The role of PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting was brought up by presenter Saiyyami Kher during a post-match discussion regarding PBKS vs. GT on Cricbuzz.

“We saw captain Shreyas Iyer spending a lot of time on the boundary line because Ponting was talking to him in the ear all along; where to go, who to throw the ball to,” she said.

“You think he (Iyer) was wearing an earpiece?” Harsha Bhogle joked.

Iyer should be given just as much credit as the PBKS management, according to former England captain Michael Vaughan.

“Shreyas is very knowledgeable about these strategies, and I wouldn’t undervalue that. Many of these teams prepare for the match. To determine the tactical elements, he would have been seated with the bowlers and the bowling coach. With a certain field, they would have considered going wide to the hitters,” he said.