Punjab Kings have overtaken Gujarat Titans from the top of the points table with a sterling win over Mumbai Indians at Jaipur. They won the game by seven wickets, thus securing their entry into the Qualifier 1. The extraordinary win takes one back to the evocative conversation between Shashank Singh and Shubhankar Mishra in the run-up to IPL 2025 when Shashank said with confidence, “We shall finish in the top two.” Shubhankar looked surprised with the claim, given the Punjab Kings’ track record as non-performers, last making the playoffs in 2014; expectations for this season were therefore quite low.
Before the start of the tournament, Punjab Kings had a certain set of things in mind for this edition. They kept just two uncapped players: Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh. With Ricky Ponting coming in as the head coach, a little later came the acquisition of IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer from him. Their auction strategy was, therefore, impeccable, and the team was well formed.
Shashank must have felt rather confident after the auction. He even told Shubhankar he would text him after the 14th match. The reporter cautioned him that they might be mildly trolled if they didn’t make the top two, but Shashank was since that has turned out to be correct on 26th May.
𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭! 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭! 😤@shashank2191 pic.twitter.com/2dE7K0s5nk
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) May 26, 2025
Back on May 23, against Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings put in a disciplined performance, with their bowlers keeping MI under check and restricting them to a target of 185. Though a quiet outing for Prabhsimran Singh in the chase, Priyansh Arya and Josh Inglis both came up with fighting fifties to see Punjab Kings safely through with seven wickets in hand.
