Punjab Kings ended his six-match losing streak as captain in emphatic fashion. Shreyas Iyer By scoring a brilliant unbeaten century to take his team to a seven-wicket win against Lucknow Supergiants and keep their IPL 2026 playoff hopes alive. Chasing 197 at the Ekana Stadium, Punjab overcame an early wobble and reached 3/200 in just 18 overs. Shreyas led the charge with a sensational 101 not out off 51 balls, registering his maiden IPL century, while Prabhusmaran Singh played a superb supporting role with 69 off 39 balls. The duo put on a match-defining 140-run partnership for the third wicket after Punjab slipped into trouble early on. Muhammad Shami Immediately, Priyansh Arya was dismissed for a duck on the first ball and also removed Cooper Connolly to leave PBKS under pressure. However, Shreyas showed extraordinary courage and quickly controlled the chase. The PBKS skipper dominated both pace and spin with beautiful drives down the leg side, powerful pulls and trademark flicks. He particularly targeted spinner Digvesh Rathi, collecting boundaries regularly to shift the momentum completely in Punjab’s favour. Prabhasmaran, who survived the opportunity with 20 and 62, kept the scoreboard flowing and completed his sixth fifty of the season in just 26 balls. Shreyas completed his own half-century in 33 balls before accelerating in dramatic fashion. His second fifty came in just 18 balls as he switched gears effortlessly in the death overs. Although Prabhusmaran was eventually bowled lbw by Arjun Tendulkar, Punjab never looked under pressure again. Fittingly, Shreyas sealed both his century and victory with a six off Mohsin Khan. Earlier in the innings, he had also hit Shami for three sixes to complete a dominant chase in a single over. This victory moved Punjab to the fourth position in the points table with 15 points from 14 matches. However, their play-off qualification still depends on other results. Rajasthan RoyalsCurrently at 14 points, face Mumbai Indians on Sunday, and Rajasthan will have to lose that match for PBKS to remain in the playoff spots. Kolkata Knight Riders are also mathematically alive with 13 points and can challenge Punjab on net run rate if the results go in their favour. Earlier, LSG posted 196/6 after a strong partnership from Josh Inglis and Ayush Baduni. Inglis counter-attacked with a 42-ball 72, while Baduni scored 43 off just 18 balls in an entertaining partnership that revived Lucknow after early setbacks. Baduni unleashed a brutal attack on Azmatullah Omarzai, scoring 24 runs in an over with sequences of 4, 6, 6 and 4 as LSG reached 66/2 in the Powerplay despite losing Arshin Kulkarni and Nicholas Pooran early. Baduni’s innings ended after a sharp stumping by Prabhasmaran off Yuzvendra Chahal, with DRS confirming the dismissal. England then switched gears and punished Arsdeep Singh with a flurry of boundaries and sixes. Rishabh Pant scored 26 off 21 balls and shared a 65-run partnership with Inglis, although the LSG captain never looked quite fluent despite being dismissed by Shreyas off Chahal on 18. Chahal eventually removed Pant and later fell to England part-time spinner Shashank Singh when Shreyas was found at long-on. Abdul Samad added an unbeaten 37 off 20 balls late on, but once Marco Johnson dismissed Mikal Chaudhary cheaply, Lucknow’s hopes of crossing the 200-run mark were dashed.
