Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra showered praise on Punjab Kings’ tactics after they claimed a seven-wicket win against Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur in the ongoing IPL 2025 on Monday. With this win, PBKS have secured their top-2 position in the IPL standings and thus have confirmed their berth in Qualifier 1.
The renowned commentator hailed the Punjab Kings after Shreyas Iyer opted to bowl first in the crucial game against MI. Chopra hailed Iyer for a specific bowling plan and field settings against a particular batter of the opposition.
“The biggest story is that they changed their tactics. You need courage to do that. Something was consistently working fine for you, and that’s your strength. You bat first and outbat the opposition. However, they said that it’s not working out. So they would bowl first. After that, their bowling tactics were outstanding. Everyone was given a role, and a plan was made against every batter,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
The reputed commentator hailed the PBKS bowlers for bowling short and making MI batters hit to the long side of the boundary.
“They realized that the side boundaries were slightly big. So they could bowl slower short balls. They kept the square fielders back and the mid-on fielder up. They had mid-on in the circle for Suryakumar Yadav all through. How do you do that? If Suryakumar Yadav plays nearly 40 balls and doesn’t score 75 runs, it’s a massive win,” he added.
Chopra continued to shower praise on PBKS bowlers after they kept MI openers – Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma – at bay.
“They bowled incredibly well. No batter got the freedom to play, whether it was the powerplay overs where Ryan Rickelton got out, or Rohit Sharma, who batted very slow. Eventually, he was caught in the deep off Harpreet Brar’s bowling,” he said.
The former Delhi player also showered praise on Vijaykumar Vyshak, who returned with figures of 2-44 in his quota of four overs. Vyshak was taken for 23 runs in his final over but he bowled brilliantly in the first three overs.
“Will Jacks played one or two good shots, but then he fell prey to Vijaykumar Vyshak. Vyshak was very, very good. He started the season and has ended the season as well, if we talk about the league phase. He was outstanding then in Ahmedabad, and he is outstanding now in Jaipur,” Chopra elaborated.
Meanwhile, Harpreet Brar returned with figures of 1-36 whereas Arshdeep Singh bagged 2-28 in his quota of four overs. Singh conceded only three runs in the final over of the innings.
“Harpreet Brar bowled restrictively continuously. He too picked up a wicket and dismissed the Mumbai Indians’ legend, Rohit Sharma. 22 or 23 runs came in the 19th over, and Arshdeep Singh gave only three runs in the last over. He was phenom. They (MI) were at least 20 runs short. 184 was never going to be enough,” he observed.
Punjab Kings will face either Royal Challengers Bengaluru or Gujarat Titans in the first qualifier at Chandigarh on Thursday.
