"He just flicked the switch...": PBKS bowling coach hails skipper Iyer for his knock in Qualifier two

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 2 (ANI): Following Punjab Kings (PBKS) qualification to the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, team's bowling coach James Hopes hailed captain Shreyas Iyer for playing a "skipper's knock" and "flicking the switch during a tense run-chase.
PBKS reached the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after an 11-year wait as it beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday. After electing to bowl, the side led by Shreyas Iyer restricted the five-time Champions to 203/6 in 20. In reply, Iyer led from the front, smashing an unbeaten 87 off 41 balls to get his side a solid five-wicket win with an over to spare.
Speaking after the match, the bowling coach praised Iyer's calmness during the run chase and explained his side's strategy for the night.
"I think we came into the game wanting to bat second. We knew the wicket we were on was a pretty high scoring pitch and without giving too much away we were doing a few things with the impact player if we would ended up batting first. So we wanted to bat second and stack our batting and just hold on with our bowling," Hopes said as quoted by a PBKS press release.
"The skipper's knock, I think he was 24 off 20 at one stage and then he just flicked the switch as he's done a couple of times in this tournament. It was a very classy knock," the former Aussie international further said.
Hopes further praised Iyer for his captaincy and explained that the skipper kept things calm in the dressing room despite his side losing the first qualifier the past week against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
"Shreyas is a sensational captain and a sensational player. I think the big thing with that is like the game up in Chandigarh (which Punjab lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Qualifier) is do not try to find a reason for it. Do not look at 'Oh well, why did this happen? Why did that happen? No no it just happened," Hopes said.
Hopes also praised the entire batting unit highlighting the contribution from Josh Inglis (38 off 21) and Nehal Wadhera (48 off 29), and also credit his side for neutralising the threat posed by Mumbai Indians speedster Jasprit Bumrah.
"Wadhera batted beautifully. The way Inglis attacked Bumrah up front to get him off his game a little bit was commendable. If you had told us we were chasing 200 at the start of the day and we were going to take 40 off Bumrah, we would have taken that every day of the week and liked our chances," Hopes said.
PBKS won the toss and opted to bowl first. After losing Rohit Sharma early, a 51-run stand between Jonny Bairstow (38 in 24 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and Tilak Varma (44 in 29 balls, with two fours and two sixes) pushed MI forward. A 72-run partnership for the third wicket between Tilak and Suryakumar Yadav (44 in 26 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) helped MI keep a healthy run rate. All MI needed was a final push from Naman Dhir (37 in 18 balls, with seven fours) to take MI to 203/6 in 20 overs.
Azmatullah Omarzai (2/43) was the pick of the bowlers for PBKS. Kyle Jamieson, Marcus Stoinis, Yuzi Chahal and Vijaykumar Vyshak took a wicket each.
In the run chase, PBKS had some stumbles initially despite a blitz from Josh Inglis (38 in 21 balls, with five fours and a six), who took down Jasprit Bumrah for 20 runs in an over.
An 84-run stand between Nehal Wadhera (48 in 29 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and skipper Shreyas Iyer helped PBKS maintain the required tempo for the chase. After quick dismissals of Wadhera and Shashank reduced PBKS to 169/5 in 16.4 overs, a ruthless Shreyas (87* in 41 balls, with five fours and eight sixes) took down pace to guide his team to five wicket win with an over left.
Ashwani Kumar (2/55) was the top bowler for MI. Trent Boult (1/38) and Hardik Pandya (1/19) took one wicket each. Bumrah was wicketless for 40 runs in four overs.
Iyer was given the 'Player of the Match' honour for his clutch knock.
The final between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru is set for Tuesday at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. (ANI)