“Mumbai will defeat Punjab”, “Mumbai Indians have momentum, ‘Punjab Kings bowling looks weak’ were some statements made by the experts before Punjab Kings were set to face Mumbai Indians in the 69th match of IPL 2025. The match was a playoff shootout as the winner of the match would’ve ensured their place in Qualifier 1 of the season, and the Punjabi Boys completely humiliated the Mumbai Indians in Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium as they won the match by 7 wickets and chased down the target of 185 in just 18.3 overs. This big win has ensured PBKS of a top-two finish in the points table, and now PBKS will be facing either Gujarat Titans or Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Mullanpur, the real home ground of Punjab Kings. Shreyas Iyer-led PBKS has once again proved all their doubters wrong and has lived up to the tagline of their team, which says “Bas Jeetna Hai.”
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Strong bowling display by the Punjabi Boys
Punjab’s bowling is a bit weak was the words coming out of all the experts and that’s why many experts were backing Mumbai Indians to win but the Kings had other plans as they restricted a strong Mumbai batting line up to a total of 184 on a batting friendly Jaipur pitch which have seen 200+ totals throughout the season but the PBKS attack led by Arshdeep Singh silenced all their doubters by restricting the team with the strongest batsman in the world. Marco Jansen, who was playing his last match of the season as he is set to join his South Africa teammates for the WTC finals, took 2 crucial wickets of Ryan Rickelton and Hardik Pandya, both wickets came when Mumbai were trying to gain some momentum. Vijaykumar Vyshak also bowled a good spell, barring his last over, where he was attacked by both Naman Dhir and Suryakumar Yadav for 23 runs in the 19th over of MI’s innings. After the 19th over of Vyshak everyone started getting déjà vu of Mumbai Indians last match against DC where MI was behind in the first 17 overs but they scored over 50 runs in the last three overs which took DC out of the game but this time the story was different as PBKS bowler Arshdeep Singh only conceded three runs in the final over which shifted the momentum towards PBKS.
Inglis-Arya wins it for PBKS.
PBKS chased down MI’s target in only 18.3 overs and the two players who showed up for PBKS against MI were an Uncapped talented Indian batter who has taken this IPL season by strom and that batter is “Priyansh Arya” the boy from Delhi who speaks less but his actions justifies how strong the batter as the youngster scored a brilliant fifty against a quality Mumbai Indians attack which consists of bowler named Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar and Mitchell Santner and the youngster was the first uncapped player to score a fifty against MI. Arya scored 62 off just 35 balls, and his innings consisted of 9 fours and 2 sixes. Josh Inglis, the Australian international, was the main man for PBKS as he played a brilliant innings of 73 off just 42 balls to take his team to the qualifier 1. Josh Inglis has turned out to be a brilliant investment for the Kings this season as he was regularly delivering 30+ scores at a strike rate of over 200 every time, but today he played a big innings and ensured PBKS of their biggest win of this season so far.
Shreyas Iyer applauds his team.
Shreyas Iyer has taken Punjab Kings to the playoffs after 11 long years, and in the post-match interview, the Punjab skipper applauded all his teammates and said
“I personally feel everyone stepped up at the right time. We have been in that mindset that we have to win no matter what situation. Kudos to everyone and the management. Ricky has been fantastic, and for me it was about gaining the trust of every individual. And that happened by winning matches, and I personally feel we need to maintain that relationship throughout. When you are down in the dumps, it is easy to backstab each other. (On Priyansh Arya) The way he started was fabulous. It was pleasing to the eye and every individual has been fearless. They tick the boxes in the net sessions and the reflection of it is seen on the
ground. (On Josh Inglis) He loves playing the new ball, and I wanted him to play more deliveries. And I know he can be disruptive, he is a big match player.
Hope he continues the same way. We have a camaraderie from the last few years, he (Ponting) lets me be decisive on the field, all these things have culminated in a great way. Ecstatic that everything is working.
PBKS will now be heading home to Mullanpur, where they will play the first qualifier against GT or RCB, and they will be hoping to win in front of their home crowd and ensure their place in the 2025 IPL finals and if PBKS lose the qualifier they will still have another chance of making the finals in the Qualifier 2 but PBKS and their fans will be hoping to just win the Q1 and head to Ahmedabad for the final and finally bring an end to their trophy drought.
About the Author
Arpit Sharma is a sports writer and journalism student at Chandigarh University, with a strong interest in sports analysis and storytelling. His writing combines match insights with a fresh, fan-first perspective that brings the game to life.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Vygr's views.
With inputs from agencies
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