Punjab Kings assistant coach Brad Haddin revealed Shreyas Iyer’s leadership tactics after he led the franchise to a memorable win against Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier of IPL 2025. The former Australian wicket-keeper said the plan was to bat first against the five-time champions but Iyer had other ideas.

Iyer said he wants to field first and gave assurance to the team’s think tank that he would win the game for his side. MI posted a par score of 203 runs on the board after they were put into bat but Iyer scored a match-winning knock of 87 runs off just 41 balls, which Haddin reckons was the best knock of IPL 2025.

Brad Haddin said on Grade Cricketer podcast, “You do all you planning for the game and at the stadium in Ahmedabad, everything says bat first. The analytics and the match-ups, go through your team stuff, everything says bat first. We say to him (Shreyas Iyer), ‘Yep we are batting first.’ But he goes, ‘No, we’re bowling.’ Punter goes, ‘okay let the captain make the choice.’ He then said, ‘No, I’ll win the game and I’m going to bat second.”

“Everything leads to batting first, but we bowl. Then captain comes out in the second innings and plays one of the best knocks in IPL I have ever seen and got us into the final.”

Iyer led from the front and played a key role in taking PBKS to their second IPL final. The Mumbai batter scored 604 runs in 17 matches at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 175.07 in the recently concluded season but Haddin said PBKS captain didn’t get the credit he deserves and he should be considered for India’s captaincy role.

“Our captain hasn’t got enough credit and I hope, when they come down to pick an Indian captain, they really start to consider Iyer. He was outstanding throughout the whole tournament,” said Haddin.

Iyer was brilliant as a leader for PBKS and he would look to carry the good show.