Follow UsAhead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper Shreyas Iyer said that he will play at three. However, when the situation arose on May 4 (Sunday) against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Australian Josh Inglis was promoted to three. The move paid off as he scored 30 off 14 deliveries, including three sixes against Mayank Yadav.
PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting says that it was Iyer's call to send Inglis at three. "It was actually a move that the captain came up with," Ponting said at his post-match press conference.
"He thought on that sort of pitch, against that bowling attack, that it would be the right thing to if a wicket fell early to send Inglis in. We felt that Mayank would bowl early on. If you look at the way he bowls, he generally bowls reasonably short. And that's one of Inglis' great strengths, as you saw tonight. Those pull shots were pretty amazing straight away."
Iyer came in at four and smashed 45 off just 25. Along with significant contributions from Inglis, Prabhsimran Singh (91) and Shashank Singh (33*), PBKS posted a mammoth 236/5.
"It then also allows us to have Iyer, [Nehal] Wadhera and Shashank [Singh] through the middle of the innings, which is what we thought would be crucial for us in tonight's game as well," Ponting said.
"So, yeah, I mean, it was probably a surprise call for LSG to see him [Inglis] go out [at No. 3] and it paid off for us tonight. So once we got off to a [start], I think we were 70-odd at the end of the powerplay, all the momentum was going with us. You see with our batting, you know, we've got someone like Azmatullah [Omarzai] at No. 9. So we bat really, really deep and it allows our top order to play with a lot of freedom. And they did that tonight. And, you know, to bat first and get that sort of total was a great effort."
Ponting also praised opening batter Prabhsimran, scoring his third fifty in a row, which has taken PBKS to second on the IPL 2025 points table. "Yeah, look, he's been brilliant, hasn't he? You know, him and Priyansh have got us off to some great starts in the tournament," Ponting said.
"They both, you know, before today had both made 350 runs each for the tournament. I sort of challenged both of the openers in the team meeting today for one of them to go on and get a hundred in this match.
"And unfortunately, Prabh felt just a little bit short of that. But look, all we've done with our batting group, we've just given some really clear direction of the way that we want them to play, to understand how important, you know, top-order partnerships are in this competition. And we know that if Priyansh and Prabh get going together, that they can be ultra-destructive.
"You know, Priyansh mainly, probably more against the faster bowlers. And Prabh's as good a hitter or spinner as anybody going around. So, they complement each other really well, being left-hand, right-hand, and one probably being slightly better against the quicks and another against spin. So look, it's a really good, really good combination."
PBKS, who have won two games in a row, take on Delhi Capitals (DC) next on May 8 (Thursday) in Dharamsala.