Published: Jun 02, 2025, 11:17 AM (IST)
Edited: Jun 02, 2025, 11:17 AM (IST)
After Mumbai Indians failed against Punjab Kings in the Qualifier-2 of the Indian Premier League 2025, their head coach Mahela Jayawardene said that they know Shreyas Iyer was taking his time so he could bat long, which was a sign of ‘danger’ for the team.
Shreyas Iyer played an unbeaten knock of 41-ball-87 where he hit as many as 8 sixes and 5 fours, guiding Punjab Kings towards the final of the IPL for the first time after 11 long years.
“He took his time. He knew they would a bit under pressure, so he was taking his time. We knew that was a danger,” Jayawardene told the media after the after wicket loss on Sunday night.
“As long as we didn’t give him that partnership with Nehal (Wadhera), we would have been able to squeeze through because he would have had to go (out to attack) early, not wait that long.”
“He got Nehal to do the bulk of the work at that point, so that shows the experience, and he knew he had to take the game deep and he did. We were trying those options with the wickets, but it just didn’t work for us today,” Jayawardene added.
Jayawardene said MI had a good campaign after a poor start to this season. “It was a good campaign for us, the way we started, and how we regrouped as a team and had played some really, really good cricket,” he said.
“We had our opportunities getting to the playoffs and we had a really good game first up (Eliminator) and even today I thought we played some good cricket, except for Kings playing better cricket than us, especially with the bat,” he concluded.
Coming to the match, Punjab Kings knocked out five-time champions Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the Qualifier 2 to enter the final of the Indian Premier League in its 18th season. PBKS, who last played a final in 2014, will meet four-time finalists Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Tuesday, June 3.
