Ahmedabad, March 25 (IANS) Punjab Kings came up with a fine all-round performance to start their campaign in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season with an 11-run victory over Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Tuesday.

Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 97 alongside valuable contributions by Priyansh Arya and Shashank Singh helped the visitors post a massive total of 243/5 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first by Gujarat Titans. In the chase of 244, skipper Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan started precariously in the opening exchanges against the dangerous bowling attack of Arshdeep Singh and Azmatullah Omarzai before the former shifted gears in an attempt to keep up with the ever-rising required run-rate.

After not contributing any runs to the scoreboard, Glenn Maxwell, on the night he overtook Dinesh Karthik for most ducks in IPL history, struck first blood with the ball in the final over of the power-play when he found Gill’s edge, which ballooned over to cover point.

In came Jos Buttler, on his debut for Gujarat Titans after having played for the Rajasthan Royals for the past seven seasons, and took his time and navigated through the middle overs, letting the set batter Sudharsan take the fight to the Gujarat bowlers. After having a relatively slower start on the night, Sudharsan switched gears after scoring his seventh IPL fifty in 31 deliveries. The opening batter began accelerating and reached 74 runs, in an innings laced with five boundaries and six sixes, before falling victim to Arshdeep.

Gujarat decided it was time to send in their Impact Player, Sherfane Rutherford, who announced his arrival in style by smashing two sixes and a four off Marcus Stoinis. With 70 runs required off 30 deliveries, Punjab’s death bowling shone on the night, with only 12 runs coming off the next two overs. Buttler, after reaching his 20th half-century, was dismissed by Marco Jansen, bringing Rahul Tewatia to the crease with a mountain of a task ahead of him.

In the end, it was a case of too many runs left with not enough balls left for a late rampage. Tewatia was dismissed on the first delivery when he left the crease, and Rutherford’s straight shot deviated onto the wickets. Arshdeep castled the West Indies batter to call curtains on the victory.

In the first innings, debutant Priyansh Arya got off to a flying start in his IPL career, courtesy of a dropped catch by Arshad Khan in the second over, and took the fight to the Gujarat bowlers after the early dismissal of Prabhsimran Singh.

Alongside Iyer, Arya took the bowlers to the cleaners, which included a 21-run fifth over off Arshad’s bowling. However, Shubman Gill relied on his most trusted spinner, Rashid Khan, to deliver, and he provided the important breakthrough. Off Rashid’s fourth delivery, in the seventh over, Arya attempted to go big and got a massive top edge. The ball lobbed up and Arshad made no mistake in grabbing the catch the second time around.

The introduction of Sai Kishore seemed to be a turning point for the Titans. After conceding only two runs in his first over, he first struck blood with the dismissal of Azmatullah Omarzai before ruining power-hitter Maxwell’s Punjab homecoming by catching him LBW on the very next ball. After deliberating with his skipper at the other end, the all-rounder opted not to take the review, and the replay further showed the ball was missing the stumps.

However, Iyer halted Gujarat’s attempts to come back in the game by raising a 57-run stand with Marcus Stoinis before the latter was dismissed by Kishore. Iyer and Shashank Singh continued dealing in boundaries and stitched a 71-run partnership off just 28 deliveries.

With Iyer struck at 97, Shashank ended up scoring five boundaries in the final over, on his way to scoring an unbeaten 44 off 16 deliveries, with Iyer watching from the non-striker’s end and fell three runs shy of his maiden IPL century.

Brief scores:

Punjab Kings 243/5 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 97*, Priyansh Arya 47; Sai Kishore 3-30, Kagiso Rabada 1-41, Rashid Khan 1-48) beat Gujarat Titans 232/5 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharshan 74, Jos Buttler 54, Sherfane Rutherford 46; Arshdeep Singh 2-36, Marco Jansen 2-44) by 11 runs

–IANS

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