Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra showered praise on Josh Inglis after Punjab Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur in the ongoing IPL 2025 on Monday. Chasing 185 runs for the win, PBKS lost the early wicket of in-form Prabhsimran Singh.
However, Inglis was able to hit the ground running and took the attack against MI bowlers, barring Jasprit Bumrah. The Australian finally converted his start and completed his fifty off just 29 balls.
Inglis played with a lower stance against Mitchell Santner and savored success. The right-hander scored a match-winning knock of 73 runs off just 42 balls with the help of nine fours and three maximums. Thus, he was awarded the Player of the Match award.
With this win, PBKS were able to seal their berth in the first qualifier.
“Josh Inglis is interesting because at the start, he wasn’t able to make his place in the XI. I thought they would make him open at some stage, but they didn’t do that. They were going with Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, and either Lockie Ferguson or Azmatullah Omarzai,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra also hailed Shreyas Iyer for promoting Josh Inglis to number three and demoting himself to number four position.
“Josh Inglis wasn’t getting that many opportunities. Then he started getting chances, and after that, Shreyas Iyer said that he wants to go at No. 4, so he (Inglis) could go at No. 3, and that changed everything, the way he hit Mayank Yadav in Dharamsala, and played small cameos after that,” he observed.
The renowned commentator noted that the Australian has a different technique while playing against spin and pace.
“The way he played in this match, I have seen someone playing like this for the first time in my life. He is very upright against pace, and suddenly crouches while playing spin. He also keeps his hands low. He comes under the ball. So the lack of bounce doesn’t trouble him at all,” Chopra explained.
On the other hand, Chopra also showered praise on Priyansh Arya, who scored 62 runs off just 35 balls.
“Priyansh Arya, you can see glimpses of innocence. He said that he plays on instinct, just sees the ball and plays it, and doesn’t plan much. He is brilliant. If you see his wagon wheel, that’s the most beautiful wagon wheel. He scored 36 percent runs towards cover and 26 or 28 percent runs towards fine leg,” he said.
Punjab Kings will face either Royal Challengers Bengaluru or Gujarat Titans in the first qualifier at Chandigarh on Thursday.
