Since leaving the Kolkata Knight Riders after the 2024 title-winning season, Shreyas Iyer has been on a marauding run in the Indian Premier League. 604 runs in IPL 2025 with the Punjab Kings, and a bright start to IPL 2026 (203 runs at 188 SR), Iyer has constantly sent a reminder to KKR of what a horrible mistake they committed at the end of 2024.
It is not only the unceremonious sacking that hurt Shreyas. To add insult to injury, the credit for KKR’s title win entirely went to Gautam Gambhir, who left for the Indian team after that season.
Iyer went back into the IPL auction pool after many, many years. Ricky Ponting’s Punjab Kings bought him for Rs 26.75 crore, and the rest, they say, is history. Under a more loving ecosystem, Shreyas Iyer thrived and outbatted himself in IPL 2025, hitting 604 runs at a ridiculous strike rate of 175. He was the chief architect behind Punjab reaching their first IPL final in over a decade, but unfortunately, the mission remained incomplete.
THE TRAUMA OF IPL 2025
A horribly off day in the field meant that Punjab failed to chase down 191 runs in the summit clash of the IPL 2025 season. Not only did they fail, they collapsed horribly, at one time tottering at 94/8 as the hopes of a title win slipped away from their hands.
Now keep that figure, 191, in your mind. It is important, but we will come back to it a little later.
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But that incredible 2025 run was not enough to propel him into the Indian T20I team, which was building towards the T20 World Cup 2026. Shreyas made his return to the side in January this year as a panic call from the selectors, who wanted to keep replacements ready for India’s struggling middle order.
But that was about it.
This, however, did not deter Iyer and his team, Punjab Kings. Having lost the 2025 final, Punjab returned to the ongoing edition of the IPL with one goal, to win the competition. And they showed that, winning four of their first five matches. They would have won the fifth one too, but rain washed out the game against Kolkata Knight Riders, when Punjab were dominating the hosts in the powerplay.
The likes of Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shashank Singh, and Marco Jansen have come clutch in individual games, guiding Punjab to an unbeaten start in the tournament. But amidst the raging adrenaline, it has been the ice-cool veins of Shreyas Iyer that have continued to keep order in the Punjab side this season.
Now, remember the ‘191’ that we talked about? The target, Punjab bottled in the final of the IPL?
The wound perhaps cut Punjab deep enough that they are not ready to let go of a single chase this season.
PUNJAB KINGS: THE NEW CHASE SPECIALISTS
Punjab Kings have chased three targets in IPL 2026. They started strongly against Gujarat Titans away from home, which they almost fumbled. Young Cooper Connolly dragged the side out of the ditches, helping Punjab secure 163 runs in 19.1 overs.
If the chase against GT was a lingering one, Punjab rectified their mistakes in the next one. Against Chennai Super Kings, they batted with authority, chasing down a target of 210 runs in just 18.4 overs.
Their next chase against Sunrisers Hyderabad was even better, as Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya thrashed their way to a target of 220 runs in 18.5 overs.
And on Thursday, Punjab did the same thing again, chasing down 196 in just 16.3 overs.
There are two common themes in this: one, that they are steadily getting better at run chases, and second, that since nearly giving up the first game, Shreyas Iyer has taken it upon himself to hunt down targets in IPL 2026.
Against CSK: 50 off 29 balls (SR 172)
Against SRH: 69* off 33 balls (SR 209)
Against MI: 66 off 35 balls (SR 189)
SHREYAS IYER TEARS DOWN MI
Shreyas’ batting this season has given the vibes of Virat Kohli, who is perhaps the greatest chase-master in the history of the white-ball game. But in Shreyas’ case, it is not the calm, collected and calculated approach that stands out.
But it is the arrogance in his shot-making, the arrogance in his stance aimed at the opposition, which constantly hurls a singular message at them: I am going to smash you out of the park, and you cannot do anything about it.
In his latest chase against the Mumbai IndiansIyer started his innings with a cover drive off Allah Ghazanfar, who had just picked up two wickets. But the wickets column did not bother Iyer at all. At the start, he gave a lot of strike to Prabhsimran Singh, who had not faced many balls in the powerplay, and then later, took matters into his own hands.
Once set, Iyer really leaned into Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur, making the duo look ordinary at their own home ground. It is not every day that Bumrah comes out with figures of 4-0-41-0, almost as expensive as Shardul’s 3-0-42-1.
Iyer’s innings was brought to an end by a sensational Naman Dhir catch in the 16th over, but by then Punjab had 184 runs on board, less than 10 runs away from their target.
Punjab’s captain’s confidence brimmed at the post-match presentation ceremony as he took massive confidence from the win.
“Certainly confident and optimistic going forward. I think the way we’ve been playing so far, it’s phenomenal. And also at the same time, we’ve got our heads on our shoulders. We know that each and every game that we’re going to come on to the field, it’s going to be important for us as a team and as a unit. So it’s a collective effort overall and I’m glad that today we came up and we got that comprehensive victory,” Shreyas Iyer said in the post-match presentation.
His swagger was on point as well. Asked about the game-changing moment, Iyer did not talk about his batting, but pointed to the incredible gravity-defying effort that he put in to dismiss Quinton de Kock.
A relay catch, Iyer flung himself backwards over the boundary ropes, saved a six and threw the ball back into play for Xavier Bartlett to complete a safe catch. The scorecard will never remember the effort, but those who watched it will not forget it.
“We’ve got this tendency of pulling back the game, even against SRH the way we bowled after the powerplay, the guys came in together and said that, okay, we are going to see to it that, negate the boundaries as much as possible and be in the present and enjoy the moment rather than thinking way ahead of the game,” Iyer said.
“I’ve seen the crowd coming in numbers and the way they’ve been cheering for the last couple of games. I think the fan following is definitely going high and it’s so good to see people coming in numbers and cheering for us, supporting and showering their love,” Iyer concluded.
He might be out of the Indian T20I team, he might be out of captaincy consideration, but Shreyas Iyer time and again proves that he is right up there with the best in the world when it comes to all-format cricket.
His logic-defying catch, his assault on Bumrah are further proof that this is his time, and it would be a grave mistake for India if they miss out on it, just like KKR did when they let him go after the IPL 2024 season.
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