Shreyas Iyer starred with the bat in Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) five-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in a high-scoring IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday (June 1).

Chasing 204 in a knockout fixture, PBKS needed someone to bat with control and authority. Iyer stepped up and delivered a knock that combined calculated aggression with clarity under pressure.

The PBKS skipper slammed 87 not out off 41 balls (5 fours and 8 sixes) to take his team over the finishing line with an over to spare. He was ably supported by Nehal Wadhera (48 off 29) and Josh Inglis (38 off 21).

While Iyer is drawing praise from all quarters for his match-winning exploits, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin pointed out that three players made a real impact in the chase, but never got enough credit.

Speaking on his YouTube show 'Ash ki Baat', Ashwin acknowledged that while Shreyas was instrumental in the run chase, the captain’s "popularity" denied Wadhera, Inglis and Priyansh Arya of getting some accolades.

"I definitely appreciate Shreyas for a couple of shots - that six over extra cover against Ashwini Kumar off a free hit. Whenever they needed a boundary, he got it. But the game-changing batter was Josh Inglis, along with Nehal Wadhera. Iyer is popular, so the credit that needs to go to Inglis and Wadhera might not end up going. But he played a 20-run over against Bumrah in the powerplay. They got Bumrah to stop the run-scoring and get a wicket. But not only did he not get a wicket, he was also hit for 20 runs. How did he do it? Inglis scored a six against the slower ball on the leg side, then waited to hit one over third man. The moment that the slower one went for a six, Bumrah did not have any option. He had to go hard length into the pitch. That one particular over changed the tide of the game," Ashwin said.

The CSK spinner, however, felt MI were at least 15-20 runs short on the flat Ahmedabad surface.

"But Mumbai were always 15 runs short. In Ahmedabad, if you can't score 220, it won't be easy. It's going by the Gujarat Titans template, who have always exceeded 220 on a red-soil pitch. Hayden had said the same thing during the mid-innings chat," he added.

Ashwin also had special praise reserved for Arya, who scored 20 off 10 balls during the chase while opening the innings.

"There is also a runaway superstar in the Punjab team, and we might see a lot of him in Indian cricket—Priyansh Arya. If you noticed today, he got out in the powerplay, but scored 20 off 10 balls. MI got two wickets in the powerplay, but his knock gave Punjab the momentum and gave Iyer the luxury to stay on course with Wadhera."