The Narendra Modhi Stadium witnessed a series of 8 sixes from the willow of Shreyas Iyer, the captain of Punjab Kings as he rampaged the Mumbai Indians attack in chasing down the target of 204 set by Mumbai Indians ensuring his team got to the target with one over to spare.
His stroke filled strike rate of 212 in 41 balls included 5 boundaries and 8 towering sixes , rated as the 2nd highest runs made in an IPL playoff by a captain frogleaping ahead of k.L Rahul and Adam Gilchrist only falling short, behind David Warners 93 back in 2016.
Opting to bowl first, they leaked 204 runs to Mumbai Indians, who have never lost a game defending a score above 200.
Mumbai Indians have a strong batting lineup despite the absence of Ryan Rickleton, who is on national duty for South Africa. His replacement, Jhonny Bairstow, made 38 ,following up his 47 against Gujarat Titans in the eliminator. Hence, the replacement was an excellent option.
Thilak Varma 44 and Suriyakumar Yadav, Mumbai Indians star batter 44. He already has scored 640 plus runs in the IPL this year with 25 runs or more in 12 outings on the trott in this editionuiHis innings with support from Norman Dhir 33, which helped the Maharashtra boys to a par score of 203 for 6 wickets.
Punjab Kings were in6 trouble at one stage 73 for 3 wickets whilst their fans observed silence anticipating and losing hope due to the strong defence of Mumbai Indians especially when they defend a 200 plus target set for the opposition.
Jos Inglis, who thumped Jasprit Bumrah for 20 runs in one over, was given a controversial dismissal when he was on 38 with the score on 73 for 3 wickets
Then came the turning point as Trent Boult dropped Nehal Wedhara when he was batting on 12 , Wedhara, and Shreyas Iyer stiched a partnership of 84 runs for the 4th wicket , before Nehal Wedhara walked back falling just 2 runs short of a well deserved half century.
Mumbai Indians were still in the hunt when Shasek Singh lazily ran himself out for 12 with Punjab Kings still not out of the woods on 169 for 5 wickets in 16.4 overs to be precise.
Trent Boult was introduced to bowl the 17th over , sadly for Mumbai Indians and happily for PBKS , Shreyas Iyer showed his class with excellent timing using the pace and playing it late with brilliant composure to conter attack the seamer.
Even Jasprit Bumrah bowling his final over the 18th was dealt with ease by the Punjab skipper.
What an unbeaten 87 in 41 balls by Sheyes who guided PBKS into the finals. Indian selectors have not included Shreyas Iyer for the 5 test series to England. I hope they noted the quality in his stroke play. It was not simply wild hitting but predominantly cricketing strokes.
In lighter vain, have you ever seen the Ambani family in distress ? Well, owner Nita was , when Shreyas Iyer thumped her players around the Modi stadium that too into the night skies as she and the rest of Mumbai Indian supporters were shell shocked at his batting prowess.