Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 26 : Shashank Singh revealed the instructions he received from selfless captain Shreyas Iyer in the final over of the first innings, which paved the way for Punjab Kings to muscle its way to 243/5 against Gujarat Titans in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
Shashank was just 10 balls old at the crease when the last over of the first innings was left. Shreyas was at the other end, unbeaten on 97, the set batter out of the two with a whopping nine sixes to his name and a player without an IPL hundred.
The newly crowned PBKS skipper stood on the verge of rewriting history; he could have become just the second captain to hit the three-digit mark on his captaincy debut in the IPL. However, he let go of his personal milestone and had a simple message for Shashank: "Hit every ball for a four and a six," and not to think about giving him a strike.
Shashank took heed of his captain's command and lived up to his expectations. He flexed his boundary-hitting nerve and effortlessly found the boundary rope to pick up five fours and take 23 runs off the final over.
With a searing display with the bat, Shashank lifted PBKS to 243/5 in their IPL 2025 opener, a total that was merely 11 runs too many for the Titans.
"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. I was going to ask him if I should take a single or something, but he only came and told me not to worry about his hundred. It takes a lot of heart and courage to say that because, obviously, hundreds don't come easily in T20, especially in IPL. That gave me even more confidence," Shashank said after the match, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Shreyas and Shashank, the dynamic PBKS duo, raised 77 off the last four overs to leave GT rattled in their home den. Shreyas, who came out to bat at number three for the first time since IPL 2022, faced just four deliveries in the final three overs of the PBKS innings.
"It's a team game, we all know, but then in those situations, it's difficult to be that selfless, but Shreyas was one. I know him for the past 15 years, he is the same. He told me just to be calm, to play cricketing shots that I usually play, to maintain my balance and by God's grace, I think we had a good finish," he added.
Despite putting up a herculean total, PBKS just couldn't sigh in relief. GT embraced the challenge of toppling the second-highest run chase in the tournament's history, and Sai Sudharsan added the much-needed flair to it.
He kept them on course with his entertaining 74 off 41 balls. Jos Buttler (54) and Sherfane Rutherford (46) chipped in with invaluable contributions as GT garnered 87 runs between nine to 14 overs.
GT continued to steamroll the Kings as the demanding equations came down to 75 off 36 balls. Despite the asking rate touching past 12, it seemed achievable, considering the heavy dew hindering the bowlers in their attempts to hit the right length.
PBKS needed to turn things around, and that's when the impact player, Vijaykumar Vyshak, executed a flawless spell to dent GT's hopes for victory.
Relying heavily on his precision, Vyshak spilt just 10 runs in his first two overs and bowled 10 dots delivered as PBKS put together three overs without conceding a boundary. GT could never recover from the sudden slowdown and eventually fell 11 runs short in what could have been a historic chase.
"Shreyas is someone who works on instincts as a captain. That's why he's one of the best captains in the world right now. Even I feel that that was the right time to get Vyshak and the way he bowled... in the bowling meeting, we usually plan all those things. So this was a planned thing. The way he executed the plan was commendable. Those were the hard overs he bowled because there was some dew," Shashank said.
"These are the moments you have to win. Vyshak came, and he nailed it. It is very difficult to bowl those yorkers, but he did his job to perfection, and kudos to him," he added.