Shreyas Iyer told Shashank Singh

Shreyas Iyer missed out on a hundred against the Gujarat Titans in what was his first match as the Punjab Kings captain in the team’s opening game of the Indian Premier League 2025 season.
Shreyas ended the match with an unbeaten 97 runs off 42 balls while Shashank Singh, the Punjab side’s designated finisher, ended with 44 off 16 balls. In fact, Shreyas could have easily crossed the 100-run milestone since he was batting on 97 when the 19th over had ended. But rather than asking his batting partner Shashank to hand over strike to him, Shreyas ordered him to go for the kill. The result: Shashank hit five boundaries in the final over to plunder 23 runs off Mohammed Siraj in the 20th over.
“Let me be very honest: Shreyas, from ball one, said don’t worry about my hundred! Obviously, I was going to say to him, ‘should I give you a single or something?’” Shashank said later. “It takes a lot of heart and courage to say this because obviously hundreds don’t come easily in T20, especially in the IPL.”
Story continues below this ad

Had Shreyas opted to chase personal milestone and asked Shashank to give him strike the team may not have been able to set a 244-run target. At the end of the day, Gujarat fell just 11 runs short.
Talking about his innings, Shashank said: “Yes, it was a good cameo. But looking at Shreyas, that motivated me even more… Just watching the ball and reacting to it. I try and make sure I get the boundaries. When you go at that number, it’s more likely that you’ll not get a good hit. I know the shots I can back. I focus on my strengths rather than things which I can’t do.”