Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer smacked an unbeaten 97 runs off 42 balls on his Punjab Kings debut against Gujrat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The 2024 IPL captain wasn’t retained by Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab took advantage of that, signing him for INR 26.5 crore. In the first game itself, the Mumbai-born showed tremendous character and played with maturity to help Punjab post 243 runs on board in the first innings.
Opener Priyansh Arya set the tone of the game, with 47 runs off 23 deliveries. After that, Iyer took over the business, smacking boundaries for fun. He looked unstoppable and eventually registered the third-highest score on captaincy debut for a team in the IPL. Sanju Samson holds the record, smacking 119 runs against Punjab Kings in his captaincy debut for Rajasthan. Mayank Agarkal stands second with a 99* run knock against Delhi Capitals for PBKS.
| Player | Team | Runs on captaincy debut |
| Sanju Samson | Rajasthan Royals | 119 |
| Mayank Agarwal | Punjab Kings | 99* |
| Shreyas Iyer | Punjab Kings | 97* |
| Shreyas Iyer | Delhi Capitals | 93* |
| Faf du Plessis | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 88 |
Meanwhile, Shashank Singh played a vital cameo for the Punjab in their match against Gujarat. After the Australian duo of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis failed to get going, Shashank got going, scoring an unbeaten 44 runs off just 16 balls. He rose to the occasion and wreaked havoc in the middle, to help Punjab post a defendable total on the board.
Iyer, being the captain allowed Shashank to play with freedom, despite him being on song. It resulted in him missing the century but that didn’t bother him and that’s a positive sign for the franchise. Meanwhile, now the bowling unit needs to step up to the occasion and get the job done for the team. The dew won’t make it any easy but the bowlers need to strike early to keep up with the momentum.