Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer has been in splendid touch in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. He had scored two unbeaten scores in match wins. In his peak, Shreyas revealed his 3.0 version to the world. And as his team embarked on a 206-run target, he entered the Mullanpur Cricket Stadium against the Rajasthan Royals with the confidence of a man who was yet to start.
Shreyas Iyer vs Jofra Archer battle: Outside off and dispatched
Jofra Archer had dismissed Priyansh Arya on the first ball of the chase. It was a gem of a delivery that jagged away from the southpaw opener and hit the off stump. A dream ball for any pacer. But Shreyas was unperturbed. Archer came running in, and in a flash, the ball had reached the boundary.
The pacer had pitched the ball outside off, and Shreyas drove him on the up over extra covers. A glorious shot that reached the boundary on just one bounce. Archer came again, bowled outside off, and this time Shreyas guided it to backward point. No run.
On the third ball, Archer once again went outside off, and Shreyas hit the ball in the air again. The ball went to the cover point region. The fourth ball was guided to the backward point, who got his hand on the ball and didn’t reach the boundary. Shreyas was winning by now. He had scored 10 off 4 balls. All the balls were over 145 clicks.
The change up
Just one ball remained, and Archer changed the tactics this time. Shreyas expected the ball to be outside off again, and the pacer directed it towards the stumps. Shreyas went back and tried to drag the ball to the off-side. He was in no shape, and the ball was the fastest Arched had bowled by then, 148 km.
Stumps were shattered, and Shreyas walked back with a pretty 10 (5). The PBKS captain had won the battle, but the war belonged to Archer.
Editor's Pick
Cricket
Will Gambhir try Rishabh Pant or Nitish Reddy in IND vs SA 3rd ODI with series on the line?
Top Stories
