Shreyas Iyer was supposed to be the rebel captain who would send Punjab Kings (PBKs) to India Premier League (IPL) 2025 when playing a responsible blow against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in qualifier 1 on Thursday.
There was an early problem for their team when they lost the Orya Arya (7) and Prabhsimran Singh (18) openers due to insignificant scores within the third. The Mumbaikar had rescued by problems on multiple occasions this season and the clash in Mullanpur that justified it to do it again.
Shreyas Iyer’s intention against Josh Hazlewood criticized by Tom Moody
But Shreyas was attacking from his first ball against Josh Hazlewood and lost. He tried to interrupt the rhythm of the Australian playing against the line, but was surprised by the field sewing movement and bit the goalkeeper.
Three balls and two races were all Shreyas who could do with the bat, since their teammates followed their example, reducing to 60/7 in nine overs. If it were not for the 26th of 17 Marcus Stainis balls, they would not have reached three figures in total.
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While some expected that they could defend a total in their home as they did with 111 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the League stage, the RCB batters sent to the target in just 10 overs to register a victory.
The former Punjab Kings coach Tom Moody felt that Shreyas should have been cautious against the movement that Hazlewood was receiving before taking the attack on RCB bowling players, instead of loading in the new ball.
“The first ball that played and lost, the perfect line that you would expect to have himwood to be played. He played in her, but he really didn’t want to play in her. And then, that third ball that came out. For me, he completely read the situation of the game and his own situation,” Moody said in Espncricinfo Show Time-Out.
PBK now wait for qualifier 2
The former Australian captain felt that the best thing for Shreyas would have been to leave his ego outside and fix the early loss of Wickts.
“Sometimes, you must put your ego in your pocket and move on. For me, that was the perfect example of not reading the situation: trying to overcome something that has been a darkness in the past instead of simply swallowing your pride and just keep moving forward accumulating. He only had to see Hazlewood.
The his legs Sharma spinner was the RCB chief destroyer with 3-17, while Hazlewood swepts Josh Inglis and Shreyas along with the Azmatullah Omarzai Wickt to reach 21 WICKETS for the season.
PBK will now face the winner of the eliminator between the Gujarat Titans and the Mumbai Indians in qualifier 2 on June 1 at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.
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