Shreyas Iyer has been taking the Indian Premier League by storm ever since he left the Kolkata Knight Riders after a winning season in 2024. 604 runs in IPL 2025 with Punjab Kings and a bright start to IPL 2026 (203 runs at 188 SR), Iyer kept sending KKR a reminder of what a terrible mistake they made at the end of 2024.
It’s not just the unceremonious dismissal that hurt Shreyas. To make matters worse, the credit for KKR’s title win went entirely to Gautam Gambhir, who left for the Indian team after this season.
Iyer returned to 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. In a loving ecosystem, Shreyas Iyer flourished and outdid himself in IPL 2025, scoring 604 runs with a ridiculous 175 strikes. He was the main architect behind Punjab reaching their first IPL final in over a decade, but unfortunately the mission remained incomplete.
IPL 2025 TRAUMA
A terribly loose day in the field meant that Punjab failed to chase down 191 runs in the top clash of the IPL 2025 season. Not only did they fail, they collapsed horribly, suddenly reeling at 94/8 as their title hopes slipped away.
Now keep that number in mind, 191. It’s important, but we’ll come back to that a little later.
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But that incredible run in 2025 was not enough to get him into India’s T20I squad, which was building towards the T20 World Cup 2026. Shreyas returned to the side in January this year as a panic call from selectors who wanted replacements ready for India’s struggling middle order.
But that was about it.
However, this did not deter Iyer and his team, Punjab Kings. After losing the 2025 final, Punjab returned to the ongoing edition of the IPL with a single aim to win the competition. And they showed it, winning four of their first five games. They would win the fifth as well, but the match against Kolkata Knight Riders was washed away by rain as Punjab dominated the home side’s powerplay.
The likes of Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen combined in individual games to lead Punjab to an unbeaten start to the tournament. But amidst the raging adrenaline, it was Shreyas Iyer’s ice-cold veins that continued to keep the Punjab side in order this season.
Now, remember the ‘191’ we were talking about? Target, Punjab bottled up in IPL final?
The blow may have cut Punjab so deep that they are not ready to let go of a single chase this season. Shreyas Iyer, Prabhsimran Singh added 139 runs for the 3rd wicket against MI. (PTI Photo)
PUNJAB KINGS: THE NEW CHASE SPECIALISTS
Chasing three targets in IPL 2026, Punjab Kings got off to a strong start against Gujarat Titans away from home which they almost fell short of. Youngster Cooper Connolly pulled the side out of the trenches and helped Punjab post 163 runs in 19.1 overs.
If the chase against GT was a drag, Punjab made up for their mistakes in the next. Against Chennai Super Kings, they batted with authority and reached the target of 210 runs in just 18.4 overs.
Their next chase against Sunrisers Hyderabad was even better as Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya battled to a target of 220 runs in 18.5 overs.
And on Thursday, Punjab did the same again, chasing down 196 in just 16.3 overs.
There are two common themes in this: firstly, that they have been steadily improving in their runs and secondly, since he almost gave up the first game, Shreyas Iyer has taken up the target hunt 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 SHUT ME OFF
Shreyas’ batting this season has given the vibes to Virat Kohli, who is perhaps the greatest chaser in the history of the white ball game. But in the case of Shreyas, the calm, collected and calculated approach does not stand out.
But it’s the arrogance in his shooting, the arrogance in his attitude directed at the opposition, that keeps spewing a singular message at them: I’m going to knock you off the park and you’re not going to do anything about it.
In his latest chase against Mumbai Indians, Iyer started his innings by covering batting Allah Ghazanfar, who had just picked up two wickets. But the goal column didn’t bother Iyer at all. He hit Prabhsimran Singh a lot early on, who didn’t face many balls in the power over, and later took it into his own hands.
After the shoot, Iyer really leaned on Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur, making the duo look ordinary on their home turf. It’s 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 ended by a sensational catch by Naman Dhir in the 16th over, but by then Punjab had 184 runs on board, less than 10 runs short of their target.
The Punjab skipper’s confidence was brimming at the post-match presentation ceremony as he took immense confidence from the win.
“Definitely confident and optimistic going forward. I think the way we’ve been playing so far has been phenomenal. And at the same time, we’ve got our heads on our shoulders. We know every game we step on the pitch is going to be important for us as a team and as a whole. So we’re happy to get a win today overall and me and I won.” he said in a post-match presentation.
His bragging was spot on too. When asked about the game-changing moment, Iyer didn’t talk about his batting but pointed to the incredible gravity-defying effort he made to dismiss Quinton de Kock.
A relay catch, Iyer lunged backwards over the boundary ropes to save a six and throw the ball back into play for Xavier Bartlett to complete a safe catch. The scorecard will never remember that effort, but those who watched it won’t.
“We tend to take the game back, even against SRH the way we played after the power play, the guys came together and said ok, let’s see it through, break the boundaries as much as possible and be present and enjoy the moment rather than thinking about the game,” Iyer said.
“I’ve seen the crowd coming in numbers and the way they’ve been cheering in the last few games. I think the fan following is definitely high and it’s so good to see people coming in numbers and rooting for us and supporting us and showering us with love,” concluded Iyer.
He may be out of India’s T20I squad, he may be out of captaincy considerations, but Shreyas Iyer has proven time and again that he is up there with the best in the world when it comes to all-format cricket.
His logic-defying catch, his attack on Bumrah is further evidence that now is his time and it would be a grave mistake for India to miss out, just like KKR did when they let him go after the IPL 2024 season.
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– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
17 Apr 2026 01:27 IST
