Shreyas Iyer played a captain’s knock, striking a century against the Lucknow Super Giants in a must-win match at the Ekana on Saturday. This was also Iyer’s maiden Indian Premier League century and he took 51 balls in an innings studded with 11 fours and 5 sixes to reach there and help his team defeat LSG and keep their play-offs hopes alive.
Now, Punjab will have to wait for the result of Sunday’s Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals match to see if they can qualify as the 4th team. If Rajasthan win against Mumbai, Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders will both be eliminated and RR will qualify as the 4th team. But if RR lose, Punjab will hope Delhi Capitals win against Kolkata or pray for it to be a close match so that they can scrape through by a superior net run rate.
Before this ton, Iyer’s highest score in the IPL was 97* in 2025 against Gujarat Titans in his debut match for his new franchise Punjab Kings after he was bought for Rs 26.75 crore after leaving Kolkata Knight Riders, who he led to their third IPL trophy in 2024. Last season, he guided Punjab to the final as well but they fell to Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the final hurdle.
Earlier, Josh Inglis made a typically punishing 72, guiding Lucknow Super Giants to a handy 196 for six against Punjab Kings, who need to win this match to stay alive in the race to the IPL playoffs.
Inglis and Pant (26, 21b) added 65 runs for the fourth wicket as the already-eliminated Super Giants recovered from a shaky 69 for three in the seventh over.
Inglis 42-ball innings had two phases in it. The first part contained an opening over assault on Arshdeep Singh, four fours fetching the Aussie 16 runs.
But then he left the stage for Ayush Badoni, who came to the crease after the early dismissal of Arshin Kulkarni, who opened in the place of Mitchell Marsh, and Nicholas Pooran.
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Badoni took the centre stage in some style, making an 18-ball 43 and added 49 runs for the third wicket with Inglis.
He creamed Azmatuallah Omarzai, the No.1 all rounder as per ICC rankings, for 24 runs in the fifth over, and the run glut included a sequence of 4,6,6,4.
It helped LSG recover from the early departures of two top-order batters and end the power play at a rather fine 66 for two.
But Badoni’s daredevilry ended soon as Prabhsimran Singh effected a smart stumping off Yuzvendra Chahal, and DRS upheld its validity.
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However, Inglis woke up from his stupor with a slew of sparkling shots around the ground, and he started the second segment of his innings smashing a six, four and four in a row of Arshdeep.
In all, Inglis milked Arshdeep for six fours and two sixes, extending the India left-arm pacer’s lean season.
It brought Pant and Inglis together. Pant, who was dropped on 18 by Shreyas Iyer at covers off Chahal, was not at his fluent best, but stayed there to give some valuable company to Inglis.
The Aussie right-hander reached his fifty in 28 balls but lost the company of Pant, who fell to Chahal (2/25).
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Inglis eventually fell to part-timer Shahshank Singh, giving an easy catch to Shreyas, who had stationed himself at a more straight long-on position.
Abdul Samad (37 not out, 20 balls) belted a couple of big hits but once Mukul Choudhary fell to Marco Jansen (2/33) cheaply, LSG’s hopes of crossing 200 evaporated.
