The current captain of Punjab Kings, Shreyas Iyer, performed exceptionally well in his last game against Lucknow Super Giants. According to former Australia captain Aaron Finch, Shreyas Iyer played a match-winning inning of a hundred runs against L&T in the Ekana Cricket Stadium in IPL 2026. In the game, Shreyas ended unbeaten at a score of 101 runs from 51 balls.
Finch said on JioHotstar that it was a brilliant innings. Shreyas Iyer started by playing classic cricketing shots. He doesn't move around the crease much. He hits the ball where it should go, which is the art of batting in general. Finch was particularly impressed by the way Iyer dominated spin during the chase.
He said, "We know how dangerous he is against spin, and he took it to a new level in this game. Some of his shots made a powerful sound."
The former Australian captain said that this century became even more important considering Punjab's campaign, as the franchise needed a win to stay in playoff contention. He said, "I am very happy with his first IPL century. Batting in the middle order is never easy, but he was a class above the rest."
Indeed, Punjab faced early difficulties after Priyansh Arya was dismissed for a golden duck, followed by Cooper Connolly's dismissal soon after. Chasing a target of 197, the team was 22/2 within three overs. From there, he took all the pressure on himself and turned the tide of the chase.
Finch further said that you can see how important it was for him to put his team in a position to make the IPL playoffs. These are the kinds of games you want to be a part of. These are the kinds of games where your leaders need to stand up, and Shreyas did exactly that in this game. He said that it wasn't easy to control himself in a difficult situation.