New Delhi: Shreyas Iyer the batter might have grabbed the headlines with an unbeaten 87 off 41 balls as Punjab Kings entered the final of IPL 2025 with a five-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians. But it was skipper Iyer who also made a mark driving a side to the final for the first time in 11 years.
As he sent Ashwani Kumar into the stands to finish off Punjab’s 204-run chase with an over to spare, he became the first cricketer to lead three different teams into IPL finals.
Under his captaincy, Delhi Capitals had reached the title round in 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders won last year under his leadership and in this edition Punjab are set to face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the summit clash on June 3.
Making Iyer’s achievement even more impressive is the fact that no other player has been able to do it for more than one team.
At the mega auction for IPL 2025 held in November of last year, Punjab had the strongest purse as they went all-out for Iyer.
Punjab had earlier hired Ricky Ponting as head coach and the Australian was keen to work again with Iyer, having worked together during Delhi’s run to the final in 2020.
They shelled out a massive Rs 26.75 crore, briefly making him the most expensive player in the tournament’s history. And not only with 558 runs in 16 matches, Iyer has repaid most of that money by leading Punjab to their only second final appearance in 18 years.
A shot at a new history
But he would be the first to acknowledge that the job is only half done. With RCB entering the final too, IPL is assured of a new champion in this edition.
Iyer would be keen to notch up another first, being the only captain to lead two teams to title in two consecutive editions. He struck five boundaries and eight sixes on Sunday to snub Mumbai Indians’ dreams and would be backing himself to again lead from the front in the final on Tuesday.
“I don’t know to be honest, I love such big occasions. I always say to myself and to my colleagues in the team that the bigger the occasion, the calmer you are, you get the big results,” he said after Punjab’s win over Mumbai.
“Today was a right example where I was focusing more on my breathing rather than sweating out there. All players need to be assertive and show that intent from ball one. The intent was stupendous and even for me, I had to take some time.
“From the other end, the batsmen were striking pretty well. I know the more time I spend on the field, the better I get and my vision also gets better.”
KKR’s loss is PBKS’ gain
Punjab’s ascent under Iyer is all the more striking as it shows how poor KKR’s judgement was to not retain their title-winning captain.
Iyer had earlier said he expected to be retained but no concrete communication with KKR led to them going their separate ways, adding that he was disappointed to know about it only a week prior to the retention date.
KKR CEO Venky Mysore had claimed that Iyer was the first name on their retention list and hinted at his willingness to test his market value at the auction that led to his non-retention.
In their title defence, KKR failed to qualify for the play-offs as they finished eighth in the standings with only five wins in 14 matches.
Punjab would be glad that things didn’t turned out the way it did as they have gained at the cost of KKR, for sure.
Shreyas Iyer is the first cricketer to lead three different teams into IPL finals. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
