Punjab Kings’ hopes rest on Shreyas Iyer as Mumbai Indians hold advantage in qualifier 2

Uncapped challenge

Those early weeks of the season will be the ones openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh would love to jog back to.

Punjab’s uncapped combo has whipped up more than 900 runs between them, aggregating nearly 10 runs per over for their opening stand. However, runs have been hard to come by since a return to action after a fortnight’s break. While Prabhsimran hasn’t crossed the 30-run mark since a sparkling 91 early in May, Arya has touched double-digits only once in five innings, incidentally a stroke-filled 62 against MI, wedged between a string of early dismissals.

Next stop: Qualifier 2️⃣ 😍@mipaltan are all set to meet the @PunjabKingsIPL for a ticket to glory 🎟

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It is the unlikely hit of this fledgling and combustible union, alongside captain Iyer, that has powered Punjab’s remodelled engine room this season. But when the trio topple the disposition with their impetuous shotmaking as they did against RCB over in Mullanpur, the recklessness can leave a fallible middle-order gasping when confronting an MI roster studded with match-winners hardened by play-offs pressure.

As much as Prabhsimran and Arya await the biggest hurdles yet of their respective T20 careers against Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult up front, Punjab’s collective temper and approach to a high-stakes encounter will rest on the mettle of Iyer’s control with the bat.

Wafting aimlessly in the face of his biggest nemesis, Josh Hazlewood, Iyer shifted the Punjab dugout from shaken to shellshocked within four balls. The contest with the bowler who had dismissed him thrice before ended with Iyer’s head-to-head average slipping to an abysmal 2.75 across 22 balls against the metronomic Aussie.

There isn’t a discernibly startling kryptonite awaiting him in the forthcoming game, but Iyer will have to brace for an early test as Bumrah and Boult sharpen their angles to nip the openers out cheaply.

Eyes on Iyer (c)

Despite smearing attacks with his renewed T20 striking to notch up 516 runs at 170.86 this year, Iyer will be mindful of the gears after realising the meek resistance behind him in the latest collapse. The tumble from 38/3 to 60/7 saw the complete unravelling of the middle-order, with Aussies Josh Inglis, Marcus Stoinis and the death-overs-coded Shashank Singh failing to serve a riposte. D-day duress could be a little beyond Nehal Wadhera just yet. It certainly was past a young Musheer Khan, sent out to save a panicky dressing room in the heat of the situation on his T20 debut, only to have the 20-year-old Mumbaikar trudge back with a three-ball duck batting at No. 8.

While their batting plans are susceptible to such stark extremes, Punjab’s margin for errors with the ball has also seen unpleasant movement with Marco Jansen flying out for international duties and Yuzvendra Chahal injured.

While the veteran leggie could be in the mix for a return, the tall Jansen’s middle-overs absence could be felt in a phase where MI have surprisingly floated behind a fiercer band of teams, averaging 9.03 runs per over.

The shorter lengths could also play into the hands of MI’s freshly prepared play-off strengths in the top order. If Jonny Bairstow and Rohit Sharma boss the Powerplay as they did against GT, the banged-in deliveries may not be a fancy option for the seamers.

Iyer fiddled through his bowling artillery consistently to leave MI “10-15 short” the last time. But a Bairstow reinforcement, Rohit’s chunky returns, crunchy cameos from Tilak Varma and Hardik, and the unmissable Suryakumar Yadav have reset Mumbai’s momentum.

The devious alternate path to the final isn’t entirely new to Iyer’s system. Having led the Delhi Capitals through a similar course to the final against Mumbai five years ago, the now 30-year-old knows what it takes to mount a comeback.

A waltz to the title with the Kolkata Knight Riders last year may not have needed the batter and the captain locked and loaded every minute. But in the here and now, Iyer’s verve and versatility manifest in all action and conscience of the play-off rookies, Punjab.