Punjab Kings (PBKS) reached the final of the IPL after an 11-year wait as they beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday as well. After electing to bowl, PBKS, led by Shreyas Iyer, restricted the five-time Champions to 203/6 in 20 overs. In reply, Iyer led the charge, smashing an unbeaten 87 off 41 balls to register a win with an over to spare.
Speaking after the match, Punjab Kings bowling coach James Hopes praised Shreyas Iyer’s calmness during the run chase and explained their strategy as well.
“I think we came into the game wanting to bat second. We knew the wicket we were on was a pretty high scoring pitch and without giving too much away we were doing a few things with the impact player if we would ended up batting first. So we wanted to bat second and stack our batting and just hold on with our bowling,” Hopes said. “The skipper’s knock, I think he was 24 off 20 at one stage and then he just flicked the switch as he’s done a couple of times in this tournament. It was a very classy knock.”
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He further praised Shreyas Iyer for his captaincy and explained that he kept things calm in the dressing room despite losing the first qualifier the past week against RCB as well.
“Shreyas is a sensational captain and a sensational player. I think the big thing with that is like the game up in Chandigarh (which Punjab lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Qualifier is don’t try to find a reason for it. Don’t look at oh well why did this happen? Why did that happen? No no it just happened,” Hopes said.
Hopes also applauded the entire batting unit, highlighting the contribution from Josh Inglis (38 off 21) and Nehal Wadhera (48 off 29), and also gave credit to his team for neutralising the threat posed by Mumbai Indians’ pace attack, including Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.
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“Wadhera batted beautifully. The way Inglis attacked Bumrah up front to get him off his game a little bit was commendable. If you had told us we were chasing 200 at the start of the day and we were going to take 40 off Bumrah, we would have taken that every day of the week and liked our chances,” Hopes said.
Meanwhile, at the post-match presentation ceremony, Shreyas Iyer also explained his mindset going into big matches and he again said that he enjoys batting on big occasions as well. Punjab Kings will now take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2025 final on Wednesday, 4th June, 2025 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad as well.
“I don’t know to be honest, I love such big occasions. I always say to myself and also to my colleagues in the team that the bigger the occasion, the calmer you are, you get the big results. Today was a right example where I was focusing more on my breathing rather than sweating out loud over there,” he said.
Punjab Kings will now go head-to-head against RCB in the final and Iyer said that his side will be ready with a great mindset for the upcoming battle. “I am just staying in the moment right now, I want to cherish this moment, go out to the dressing room and celebrate with my team that we have reached the final. But I personally feel that the job is half done, so not going to think about the final that much. Just be in the moment, rejuvenate, relax, get a massage before tomorrow’s game and be in a great mindset,” he concluded.
