GUJARAT TITANS VS PUNJAB KINGS , 5TH IPL MATCH 2025, AHMEDABAD : Shreyas Iyer’s Bat and Arshdeep Singh’s Ball Helped Punjab Kings to Claim A Close Victory Against Gujarat Titans .
A late surge from Shreyas Iyer and some superb pace from Arshdeep Singh propelled Punjab Kings to victory over Gujarat Titans by 11 runs in the IPL 2025 match on Tuesday in Ahmedabad. Gujarat Titans made a valiant attempt to chase down 244, ending up with 232 for 5, but the target was all too much for their batters despite 74 from Sai Sudharsan and 54 from Jos Buttler and 33 from Shubman Gill. Sherfane Rutherford also contributed with a brisk 46, but it was not enough. Punjab Kings, who scored 243 for 5 in the first innings, also had Shreyas Iyer scoring a blistering 97 not out off 42 balls (9 sixes and 5 fours) which for the record, is his IPL high, and Shashank Singh, who scored an aggressive 44 not out off 16 balls (6 fours and 2 sixes). Shreyas Iyer’s Bat and Arshdeep Singh’s Ball Helped Punjab Kings to Claim A Close Victory Against Gujarat Titans .
TOSS-
Gujarat Titans won the toss and opted to bowl.
TEAMS LINE UP-
Gujarat Titans Squad:
Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
Punjab Kings Squad:
Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Suryansh Shedge, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
PUNJAB KINGS-
All the time, India keeps giving the world top notch batting talent. Priyansh Arya followed suit on Tuesday (March 25), making his presence felt in his nascent IPL career. He pinged the second ball he faced for a four, and while he got a huge let-off in the next over, the left-hander made Siraj pay again — an effortless flick off him was sent sailing for six, quickly followed by another boundary. The first was an early breakthrough for Titans when Shreyas Iyer — in intent to do well for his new franchise — took Rabada apart for a four and a six off his first four deliveries while the kanada fast bowler found his test match mojo by sending back Prabhsimran Singh. Arshad Khan then had to face the fury and was hoisted by Arya in his first over, three fours and a six coming his way in muscular fashion. They plundered a total of 73 during the powerplay with the young opener scoring 42 of those.
After that powerplay, the Titans had to depend upon Rashid Khan to get them the initial breakthrough. Arya top-edged one to even miss a debut fifty by three runs and he obliged. Rashid’s Afghanistan teammate Azmatullah Omarzai dented him for a six on first ball and immediately conveyed of his intentions. He subsequently went after Prasidh Krishna for a couple but either side of that, he got worked over by Sai Kishore, who delivered a superb spell. Omarzai and Maxwell fell in back-to-back balls, leaving PBKS in a suddenly brittle position. But that did not faze Shreyas as he began Sai Kishore’s next over with a couple of huge sixes. He was scoring in none but sixes at one stage as he then finished off the next over from Rashid with a couple of sixes as well to notch up a fifty. The ball continued to fly as Shreyas as well as Marcus Stoinis targeted Siraj with a six each, during a great spell of play for the batting side.
Sai Kishore actually made a pretty good start for the Titans in this final phase of the innings, picking up the big wicket of Stoinis. However, what ensued was a breathtaking attack from the well set Shreyas and new entrant Shashank Singh. Then the captain teed off, his 24-run over marking the start of the onslaught, thrice clearing the ropes, he would race to 90. He remained not out till the very end but did not make it to his hundred courtesy a one-man show from Shashank. Riding high on the confidence generated by his exploits last season, Shashank pulled Rashid for a six, lofting him straight down the ground too for a big one to race away to 20 off 7. He denied Shreyas the strike in the last over with the skipper on 97 and made six deliveries count. If Siraj was carted around, PBKS’ finisher took them to all corners, as he found the boundary five times to take his side to a staggering 77 in the final four overs.
GUJARAT TITANS-
Sai Sudharsan cracked a few delightful shots at the beginning but he was kept relatively quiet by Omarzai and Arshdeep Singh who ensured that Titans scored only 17 runs in first three overs. It called for Shubman Gill to take the lead at the other end, and he flicked the Afghan allrounder for a six and pulled another one over the ropes two balls later. In Marco Jansen’s first over, Titans got a big move as well, with two more sixes, one each by the two openers. Maxwell was then introduced in the last over of the powerplay and it was a masterstroke move from the bowling side as Gill misjudged one badly in his attempt to hit one down the ground, only to see the skipper fall for a 14-ball 33.
Just remaining in the hunt required a herculean effort from the Titans. But they did so going into the death overs when Sudharsan started feasting after Gill’s exit. Removing Stoinis right-way-up, the left-hander also went at Yuzvendra Chahal with intent, bringing Jos Buttler back to life at the other end and–after the fast-bowling superstar’s re-entry into the attack–separated him, battering a six each back to him before Sudharsan backed him into a corner again, collecting two fours and a six in the same over that repopulated the tension on the bowling side. Arshdeep returned to take out the well-set batter at last but Buttler and then impact sub Sherfane Rutherford came into the box to unleash an assault that reduced the equation to a chaseable 75 off 36 with 8 wickets still in hand.
Vyshak’s inclusion as an impact sub for PBKS finally swung the vibe in their favour. He began bowling from one end with six overs to go and kept nailing the wide yorker time after time, especially to Rutherford, to change the course of the match. He did err a couple of times to bow out a couple of wides but in view of the runs Titans required, it didn’t thing much in. Sandwiched between Vyshak’s first two overs was an excellent over from Jansen as those three overs produced only 18 runs for Titans. That was something quite precious for the batting side from the last three overs. The 18th over yielded a mere 6 runs for Jansen which was superb considering the state of the game from the bowling side’s point of view and it saw off the dangerman Jos Buttler. Vyshak was eventually taken apart for a couple of fours and a six in the penultimate over but once more, all those runs came only once the damage had already been done in the preceding overs. Needing 27 from the last six balls, the game was up the moment Arshdeep crashed over Rutherford’s stumps with the fourth ball.
Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 243/5 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 97*, Priyansh Arya 47, Shashank Singh 44*; Sai Kishore 3/30) defeated Gujarat Titans 232/5 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 74, Jos Buttler 54; Arshdeep Singh 2/36) by 11 runs.