Ahmedabad, March 26 (HS): In a thrilling encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Punjab Kings began their campaign with a fantastic win over Gujarat Titans by 11 runs on Tuesday. Punjab’s captain Shreyas Iyer played a powerful innings, scoring an unbeaten 97 runs and playing a crucial role in taking the team to a massive score.

Punjab Kings, batting first, had a good start. Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya put together a partnership of 28 runs for the first wicket. However, Prabhsimran (5 runs) was sent back to the pavilion by Kagiso Rabada. Following this, Shreyas Iyer and Priyansh Arya batted aggressively and added 51 runs. Priyansh Arya, who was close to a half-century in his debut match, scored 47 runs off 23 balls before being caught off Rashid Khan’s delivery. Captain Shreyas Iyer displayed tremendous form, scoring 97 runs not out off 42 balls, which included 5 fours and 9 sixes. Additionally, Shashank Singh (44), Marcus Stoinis (20), and Azmatullah Omarzai (16) also contributed effectively. Punjab set a massive score of 243/6 in 20 overs.

For Gujarat, Sai Kishore did a remarkable job with the ball, taking 3 wickets, while Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada claimed 1 wicket each.

Chasing a target of 244 runs, Gujarat Titans had a decent start but fell short by 11 runs. Captain Shubman Gill (33 runs off 14 balls) began aggressively, but Glenn Maxwell gave a big blow by dismissing him in the last over of the powerplay. Following this, Sai Sudharsan (74 runs off 41 balls) and Jos Buttler (54 runs off 33 balls) formed a strong partnership and brought the team into a good position.

Arshdeep Singh provided the second breakthrough for Gujarat by dismissing Sai Sudharsan, while Marco Jansen sent Jos Buttler back to the pavilion. In the final overs, Sherfane Rutherford (39) and Rahul Tewatia (28) scored runs quickly, but the team managed to reach only 232/6.

For Punjab, Arshdeep Singh took two wickets, while Glenn Maxwell and Marco Jansen each took one wicket.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar