IPL 2025- Ricky Ponting Heaps Praises On Shreyas Iyer After Punjab Kings Secure Top-Two Finish: 'I Was Keen To Work With Him'

Punjab Kings have reclaimed their position at the top of the IPL 2025 table with a resounding win over Mumbai Indians. Shreyas Iyer's team has booked a spot in Qualifier 1 and will face either Mumbai Indians or Gujarat Titans in the playoffs.

Punjab Kings Head Coach Heaped Praises On Shreyas Iyer

Punjab had already secured a spot in the IPL 2025 playoffs and, with this win, have now confirmed a top-two finish this season. Punjab have been quite dominant from the start of the IPL, and the combination of Ricky Ponting and Shreyas Iyer has worked wonders. PBKS shelled out a whopping 26.75 crores to acquire his services, and Ponting has insisted he was very keen to work with the former KKR captain.

As quoted by ESPN Cricinfo, he said, “Shreyas has been outstanding. We're a happy group, enjoyed ten weeks, got one more to go. Pretty obvious I was keen to work with Shreyas, considering how much I spent at the auction. He's a quality person, I've known him from a long time. It's what you need when you need to form a culture.”

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Punjab Kings Displayed Sheer Domination Against Mumbai Indians

Coming to the match, Suryakumar Yadav continued his sensational form and scored another half-century to help Mumbai post a formidable 184 runs. Rohit Sharma failed to contribute once again, while the likes of Ryan Rickelton and Tilak Varma also failed to deliver when it was most needed.

For Punjab, except for Prabhsimran Singh, every other batter played with purposeful intentions. Josh Inglis smashed a 42-ball 73 while Priyansh Arya demonstrated his powers with a 35-ball 62. Captain Sheryas Iyer provided the finishing touch with a 16-ball 26 as they lodged a seven-wicket win.

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Punjab are one of the two teams in the IPL playoffs alongside RCB, who are yet to lay their hand on the IPL trophy yet and Shreyas Iyer could very well lead PBKS to their first ever IPL title this campaign.