IPL 2025: File photo of Shreyas Iyer© BCCI/IPL
Shreyar Iyer turned quite a few heads in his first match in Punjab Kings colours in the IPL 2025 on Wednesday. Playing against Gujarat Titans, Iyer scored 97* off just 42 balls and led his new team from the front. Iyer missed his maiden IPL ton by a mere three runs but his 42-ball knock, which featured nine sixes and five fours, powered PBKS to a massive 243 for 5 and helped them win their season opener by 11 runs.
Shreyas has rediscovered himself after being dropped from BCCI’s central contract list for 2023-24. He returned to India’s domestic setup, put in the hard yards and returned to international cricket with a new air of swagger.
After ending India’s triumphant Champions Trophy campaign as the nation’s leading run-scorer, Shreyas relished his purple patch of form in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
Former England cricket team captain Michael Vaughan was surprised that Shreyas Iyer was not in the Indian T20I team.
“It was brilliant. It really was from the first ball when he punched it down the ground. He makes sixes look very easy, and it’s certainly not. And I liked his flicks off the hip to the short ball. But the way he strikes down the ground off the spinners and the one over extra cover, he just gives himself a little bit of space and hits through the line just outside of the off stump. He’s a brilliant player. I just keep scratching my head and thinking he’s not in the Indian T20I team,” he said on Cricbuzz.
“It’s a real worry for the rest of the world that you know this Indian juggernaut. They’ve won the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, and the final of the 50-over World Cup. He played brilliantly in the 50-over World Cup. Just had a little bit of an off day in the final. Where is the next T20 World Cup? It’s in Sri Lanka. Then, the next 50-over World Cup in South Africa. I’ve just watched the T20 tournament in South Africa. Lots of spin, lots of slow wickets. So, it will not be any different for the 50-over World Cup. The rest of the world has got to catch up, and I don’t know how, I don’t know how they’re going to do because this Indian juggernaut has a mass of players, and I reckon you’ve got 30 odd players that you could choose from. Iyer is right up near the top of that,” he said.
With ANI inputs
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