Shreyas Iyer was on 97 runs in the 19th over of the Punjab Kings’ innings and had an over to complete a hundred. Shashank Singh was on strike, and he could have easily given his captain a chance to reach the three-figure mark, but the senior batter told him to go for runs instead of thinking about his personal milestone.
Shashank Singh hit Mohammed Siraj for five boundaries and took a double as well. The pacer bowled one wide and ended up conceding 23 runs in the 20th over, with PBKS reaching 243/5. Iyer faced 42 balls and smashed 9 sixes and 5 fours. On the other hand, Shashank amassed an unbeaten 44 runs off 16 balls, including 6 fours and 2 sixes.
Former India player Navjot Singh Sidhu lauded Iyer for his selfless nature.
“Do hell with the century. When a captain starts thinking about the team first, you cannot lose. He led from the front and didn’t go for his personal milestone. Ricky Ponting and Shreyas Iyer have added new belief to the franchise. They have given direction to a directionless team in the IPL,” Navjot Singh Sidhu said on Star Sports.
“I am a proud Indian as three Indian batters, Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer, and Shashank Singh, were magnificent with the bat. Despite Glenn Maxwell failing to score, the team posted 243,” he added.