Since leaving Kolkata Knight Riders after the title-winning season of 2024, Shreyas Iyer has been in great form in the Indian Premier League. With 604 runs in IPL 2025 with Punjab Kings and a stellar start to IPL 2026 (203 runs at 188 SRs), Iyer has constantly reminded KKR what a terrible mistake they made at the end of 2024.

It was not just the unceremonious dismissal that hurt Shreyas. To add insult to injury, the credit for KKR’s title win went entirely to Gautam Gambhir, who moved to the Indian team after that season.

Iyer went back in IPL Auction pool after many, many years. Ricky Ponting’s Punjab Kings bought him for Rs 26.75 crore, and the rest, they say, is history. Under a more loving ecosystem, Shreyas Iyer carried himself forward in IPL 2025 and scored 604 runs at a ridiculous strike rate of 175. He was the chief architect of Punjab reaching their first IPL final in over a decade, but unfortunately, the mission remained incomplete.

IPL 2025 shock

A poor day on the field meant Punjab failed to chase 191 in the summit clash of the IPL 2025 season. They not only failed but also collapsed badly, at one point their score was staggering at 94/8 and their hopes of winning the title were gone.

Now keep that figure, 191, in your mind. This is important, but we’ll come back to it a little later.

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But that incredible 2025 run was not enough to include him in the Indian T20I squad, which was preparing for the T20 World Cup 2026. Shreyas made a comeback into the team in January this year following a nervous call from the selectors, who wanted to have a replacement ready for India’s struggling middle order.

But that was about it.

However, this did not affect Iyer and his team, Punjab Kings. After losing the 2025 final, Punjab returned to the current edition of the IPL with a goal to win the competition. And they showed it by winning four of their first five matches. They could have also won the fifth match, but the game against Kolkata Knight Riders was abandoned due to rain, when Punjab dominated the hosts in the powerplay.

Players like Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen have held on in individual games, giving Punjab an unbeaten start to the tournament. But amidst the raging adrenaline, it is the ice-cold nerves of Shreyas Iyer who has continued to maintain order in the Punjab team this season.

Now, remember the ‘191’ we talked about? Lakshya, Punjab bottled up in IPL final?

Perhaps this wound has hit Punjab so deep that they are not ready to give up the chase of even a single target this season.

Punjab Kings: New chasing specialist

Punjab Kings are chasing three targets in IPL 2026. They made a strong start against Gujarat Titans away from home, which they almost thrashed. Young Cooper Connolly pulled the team out of trouble, helping Punjab score 163 runs in 19.1 overs.

If the chase against GT was long, Punjab rectified its mistakes in the next match. Against Chennai Super Kings, they batted with authority and chased down the target of 210 in just 18.4 overs.

Their next target against Sunrisers Hyderabad was even better, as Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya reached the target of 220 runs in 18.5 overs.

And on Thursday, Punjab did the same thing again and while chasing 196 runs, achieved the target in just 16.3 overs.

There are two common themes: one, that he is getting steadily better in the run chase, and two, that after almost giving up the first game, Shreyas Iyer has taken the responsibility of scoring runs on himself in IPL 2026.

Against CSK: 50 runs in 29 balls (SR 172)
Against SRH: 69* off 33 balls (SR 209)
Against MI: 66 runs in 35 balls (SR 189)

Shreyas Iyer brought tears to MI’s eyes

Shreyas’s batting this season has inspired Virat Kohli, perhaps the greatest chase-master in white-ball history. But in Shreyas’ case, it is not the calm, collected and calculated approach that comes across.

But it’s the arrogance in his shot-making, the arrogance in his stance aimed at the opposition, that constantly throws a unique message at them: I’m going to knock you out of the park, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

in his Latest chase against Mumbai IndiansIyer began his innings with a cover drive off Allah Ghazanfar, who had just taken two wickets. But the wickets column did not bother Iyer at all. Early on, he gave a lot of strike to Prabhsimran Singh, who did not face many balls in the powerplay, and then took matters into his own hands later on.

Once set, Iyer really leaned towards Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur, making the pair look ordinary on their home ground. It is not every day that Bumrah comes up with figures of 4-0-41-0, which are as expensive as Shardul’s 3-0-42-1.

Iyer’s innings ended with a sensational catch by Naman Dheer in the 16th over, but by then Punjab had scored 184 runs, which was less than 10 runs away from its target.

At the post-match presentation ceremony, the Punjab captain’s confidence was at its peak as he had gained a lot of confidence from the win.

Shreyas Iyer said, “Definitely confident and optimistic going forward. I think the way we have been playing so far has been phenomenal. And at the same time, we have got our head on our shoulders. We know that each game that we are going to come on the field will be important for us as a team and as a unit. So it is overall a collective effort and I am happy that we came today and got that comprehensive win.” Post-match presentation.

His swag was also at its peak. When asked about the game-changing moment, Iyer did not talk about his batting but pointed to the incredible gravity-defying effort he made to dismiss Quinton de Kock.

A relay catch, Iyer threw himself backwards over the boundary ropes, saved a six and threw the ball back into play for Xavier Bartlett to complete a safe catch. The scorecard will never remember this effort, but whoever witnessed it will never forget it.

“We have a tendency to take the game back, even against SRH the way we bowled after the powerplay, people came together and said, OK, we will make sure to deny the boundaries as much as possible and stay in the present and enjoy the moment rather than thinking about the game beyond,” Iyer said.

Iyer concluded, “I have seen the huge crowd coming in the last few matches and the way they are cheering. I think the fan base is definitely increasing and it is great to see people coming in large numbers to cheer for us, support and shower their love.”

He may be out of the Indian T20I team, he may be out of captaincy consideration, but Shreyas Iyer proves time and again that he is one of the best players in the world when it comes to cricket across all formats.

His logic-defying catches, his attack on Bumrah are proof that this is his time, and it would be a serious mistake for India if they missed it, as KKR did when they let him go after the IPL 2024 season.

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