At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday, PBKS defeated five-time champions MI by a margin of five wickets in Qualifier 2. The team captained by Shreyas Iyer chose to bowl and held MI to 203/6. The captain took the lead in the reply, hitting an undefeated 87 off 41 balls to give his team a decisive five-wicket victory with one over remaining.

MI The IPL will have a new champion on Tuesday as a result of being eliminated from the competition. Iyer got his side across the finish line in a chase of 204 with an over remaining by standing strong with a knock full of pure class and impeccable poise, including timing it to almost flawlessly.

At his very best, Shreyas Iyer used a captain’s knock to lead Punjab Kings to a decisive five-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians in their IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 match at Ahmedabad. Iyer, the captain of PBKS, first won the toss and chose to bowl. After that, spectators weathered an early scare as play was delayed due to rain. At 9:45 PM IST, the game finally got underway, with MI sending Jonny Bairstow and Rohit Sharma to start the innings.

After being dismissed by Marcus Stoinis in the third over after hitting eight runs off seven balls, Rohit left early. Bairstow fought back with Tilak Varma after Rohit was fired. However, the English opener was dismissed for 38 off 24 balls by Vyshak Vijaykumar in the seventh over. Suryakumar Yadav (44) and Tilak (44) both made significant contributions before being removed by Yuzvendra Chahal and Kyle Jamieson, respectively.

Hardik Pandya, the captain of MI, was unable to contribute, scoring just 15 from 13 balls. Naman Dhir, meanwhile, contributed late, hitting 37 off just 18 deliveries. MI scored 203/6 in 20 overs, with Raj Bawa (8*) and Mitchell Santner (0*) remaining undefeated.

Thanks to Iyer’s undefeated knock of 87* runs off 41 balls, which included striking the game-winning six, PBKS, who were chasing 204 runs, reached 207/5 in 19 overs. After losing opener Prabhsimran Singh (6) early on and Priyansh Arya departing for 20 off 10 balls, PBKS got off to a rough start. Iyer and Josh Inglis launched PBKS’ comeback, but Hardi removed the wicketkeeper-batter in the eighth over after he had scored 38 runs off 21 balls.

Nehal Wadhera then proved to be Iyer’s ideal companion, scoring 48 off 29 balls. Even though Shashank Singh was down cheaply for just two runs, Iyer refused to concede when Wadhera was removed in the sixteenth over. Iyer then faced Ashwani Kumar in the 19th over, hitting four sixes, including the game-winning six in the over’s last ball, as PBKS defeated MI by five wickets.

In the final, Punjab Kings will now face RCB, and Iyer stated that his team will be prepared and in a terrific frame of mind for the match. The game will see a new champion for the first time since 2016 when PBKS joins RCB in the final, their first appearance since 2014.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 203/6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 44, Tilak Varma 44; Azmatullah Omarzai 2-43, Marcus Stoinis 1-14) lost to Punjab Kings 207/5 in 19 overs (Shreyas Iyer 87*, Nehal Wadhera 48; Ashwani Kumar 2-55, Hardik Pandya 1-19) by five wickets