Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
A question that will, perhaps for the longest time possible come to confront the daring but cool-headed PBKS captain is this: "what if, just what if I hadn't nicked the ball and let it be, would have just let it go?" What would the outcome of the contest be, the fans, too, will wonder for the times to come? When the captain, in the in-form man, rather, was needed to make runs, he departed for 1. And the fate of the contest with undoubtedly the biggest wicket in all of the Punjab camp, was sealed.
Would Punjab not be holding the IPL title, a maiden win that they sought perhaps as desperately and keenly as the ultimate 2025 title winners - RCB?
Just how would it all have been?
And while truth doesn't have any intake of the imagined and has nothing to do with the manufactured reality, fact also is that in reality, Shreyas Iyer played like a true king.
A true victory. An eternal battler, who despite the odds being stacked against his favour, came such a long way that he and his team were able to, at the very least, reach the finality of a tournament known for epic proportions: the Indian Premier League.
Just a contest earlier, the young and ebullient PBKS leader, who is not always a man of many words, score perhaps the finest and top quality inning ever played by a captain during an eliminator in all of IPL history.
And that's a fact.
Fact also is that the very team even the most dominant of IPL sides dread facing especially in crunch match situations, aka the Mumbai Indians, were smashed out of the park in Ahmedabad.
And the man who fired the determined salvo was their king: Shreyas Iyer. With an attacking no-holds-barred mindset, the tall right-hander, swept, late cut, drove and pulled even the best in the business, scoring a top ranked knock of 87. And in doing so, he remained not only unbeaten but took just 41 deliveries to do so.
Resultantly, Punjab, at the back of the brilliance of Iyer, reached for the first-time ever since 2014, an IPL final.
Interestingly, it is to note that back in 2014, Iyer was not an Indian national cricket team member, but far from the IPL. Today, as he leaves the 2025 contest of the famed franchise league, he still does with his head held high, having marshalled his troops to give nothing but their best and having emerged as a cool leader who plays sans with any spirit of revenge but only for improvement.
And just look how improved a side Punjab have actually become. They've got an Arshdeep, they've got a class act in Chahal, who despite being injured in one hand, wanted to give his best to his captain and his franchise. Forget not about the perilous dangers that big hitters like Inglis can provide and yesterday, to quite a reasonable extent, the daring Aussie made the RCB camp uncomfortable.
Then there's Shashank, another close comrade of Shreyas Iyer, whose game has risen under the Mumbai-born cricketer's leadership. He was the top scorer, the man behind the lone vigil, the team's only fifty run-scorer in a game that went until the last over. But it wasn't going to be enough.
The world will not seem enough, actually, not until Iyer lays his hands around another trophy, having previously led an IPL team twice in close proximity to one. Before guiding his Punjab outfit to the recently-concluded IPL final of 2025, it was Iyer who played the part of a wise and determined captain who took Delhi in 2020 and then, Kolkata in 2024 to an IPL final.
On one of those occasions, he smelled the victory, tasted glory and dedicated it to his team. Last evening, he returned empty handed. Or did he?
He earned the respect of his opponents who are all well liked, much like Iyer's own craft at handling pace and spin. Last evening, he won hearts for trying it all, for playing the game with the spirit of competitiveness and for upholding the dignity of the sport itself. And all of that was done beside scoring 604 runs, including 6 fifties for Punjab from just 17 games in all. Amazingly, he would emerge not out in 5 of those attempts whilst trying his best for his team.
A mighty fine heart for a mighty fine outfit that plays with all its heart, and mind, of course.
