Saba Karim called it “flawless”, and Ambati Rayudu “a captain’s innings” after Shreyas Iyer‘s 50 off 29 balls led Punjab Kings‘ (PBKS) successful chase of 210 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday in IPL 2026.
Since IPL 2024, Iyer has scored 1368 runs in T20s at an average of 45.60. As captain in this time, he has led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title in 2024, Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title in 2024-25, and PBKS to the IPL final in 2025.
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show after the game, Karim said Iyer “doesn’t get the credit he deserves” either as batter or as leader.
“Today was one such example where he showed why he’s so different from the other batters we’ve seen so far,” Karim said. “Even in the T20 format, he looks so flawless, [and] he has so much of time. I think he’s arguably the No. 1 batter against spin bowling – [I am] talking about white-ball cricket, including one-day and T20.
“And even against pace bowlers, since he has started to work on his square shots towards the on side, I think he has become a much better or a more rounded kind of a batter who’s very difficult to contain.”
Iyer’s numbers in the shortest format have gone up significantly in the last two years. In 43 T20s since IPL 2024, his strike rate of 169.51 is well clear of the 130.38 in 199 matches up to that point. This includes scoring 351 runs for KKR in 2024, and being PBKS’ highest run-getter with 604 runs in 2025.
And a lot of it has to do with his technique, Karim and Rayudu pointed out.
“He gets into such strong positions before he faces a delivery. Look at his trigger movement: he goes back, so the weight of his body goes from one leg to the other,” Karim said. “Then the front leg opens up quite easily, and then he goes bang. So I think that is one area where he has worked very hard.
“It also allows him to play the short delivery well. So he can go either on the front foot or transfer his weight a little bit, and smash it down the ground or over the square-leg or midwicket boundary.”
Rayudu concurred. “He has really improved his short-ball batting, and he has been amazing. The way he controlled the innings, that was a typical No. 4 innings today. And [it was] a captain’s innings as well. He paced it beautifully; it didn’t even feel like he was batting at that strike rate until he got out.
“He changed his back lift also a little bit. His bat is coming from third slip or gully sort of area, where he can really play the short ball well. And he’s in complete control of that. And also one really good thing about him is even though he goes back, his head is nicely in position. He’s always like [in] a boxer’s position, where you’re ready to punch or ready to weave. So that’s a beautiful batting position that he’s in, and touch wood, hope his form continues.”
PBKS are next in action on Monday, when they play Iyer’s former side KKR in Kolkata.
