Years change, teams change, jersey colors change. But Shreyas Iyer doesn’t seem to change. Just how great a captain Iyer can be was once again shown by Punjab Kings. Shreyas Iyer became the first captain in IPL history to take three different teams to the final. The last of which was last Sunday night.
In the 2025 IPL Qualifier-2 match, Punjab Kings crossed the target of 204 runs set by Mumbai Indians with 6 balls in hand. Captain Iyer made a big contribution to the team’s victory. He played a brilliant innings of 81 runs off 47 balls on the Ahmedabad field. At the same time, he gave Mumbai the taste of defeat in a match where they scored more than 200 runs for the first time.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians had scored more than 200 runs batting first 18 times in the IPL. But they had to lose never. This time they had to lose to Punjab Kings. Mumbai’s journey has come to an end with this loss of 5 wickets.
Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting has also set a record by taking the team to the final. Ponting has achieved the same feat as Iyer as a captain. Coach Ricky Ponting is the first coach in the history of IPL to take three different teams to the final. This Aussie great took the Mumbai Indians in 2015, Delhi Capitals in 2020 and Punjab Kings in 2025 to the final.
Iyer led Delhi to the final in 2020 under Ricky Ponting. Then he took Kolkata Knight Riders to the final last season. And this time he will play in the final in the Punjab Kings jersey.
Punjab is going to the IPL final after 11 years by defeating Mumbai Indians. They played the final for the first time in their franchise history in 2014.
And Punjab’s victory confirmed that this time the IPL will get a new champion. Royal Challengers Bangalore are waiting for Iyer’s team in the final. Neither Punjab nor Bangalore have won the IPL trophy before. Therefore, the Indian Premier League will get a new champion in the final on June 3 tomorrow.
