Inglis-Arya partnership helps PBKS secure top-two finish

Punjab Kings have clinched a top-two spot in the IPL 2025 playoffs, thus ensuring two shots at the final next week, after beating Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in Jaipur on Monday. 

The Punjab franchise returned to the IPL playoffs for the first time in a decade, and having never won the coveted trophy, will be pumped by their rise to the top of the table. 

Set a target of 185, PBKS raced to 187/3 in 18.3 overs with Australian wicketkeeper Josh Inglish smashing 73 from 42 balls in the presence of young opener Priyansh Arya who made 62 off 35. 

The pair added 109 off 59 balls after Jasprit Bumrah took out Prabhsimran Singh inside the Powerplay. Arya hit Trent Boult for three fours in four balls to set the tone for his sparkling innings and sped to his half-century in 27 deliveries with sixes off Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. 

Inglish had a few close calls early on, but settled into a groove against Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin and then hammered the rookie pacer Ashwani Kumar for 16 in what proved his only over of the night. Santner rebounded with the wickets of both half-centurions, but by then the result was out of doubt. 

After a stumbling run of form, Inglis’ match-winning knock found praise from his captain. “Obviously, he’s a big match player and we saw that today. So, yeah, fantastic attitude and I hope that he keeps continuing with the same,” said Shreyas Iyer who made 26 not out off 16 balls and struck the winning runs – a six off Trent Boult – to put PBKS on top of the table. 

Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 57 – in the process breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs for MI in a season – to set up an under-par total of 184/7 in 20 overs. There were contributions from Ryan Rickelton (27), Rohit Sharma (24), Pandya (26) and Naman Dhir (20) but that total would prove insufficient against a marauding PBKS line-up. 

The result means that PBKS will play qualifier 1 – against Royal Challengers Bengaluru or Gujarat Titans – on Thursday, with the winner going directly to the IPL final on June 3. The Eliminator will be between MI and one of the same pair.

Currently, GT are second on the points table but today’s match between RCB and the already-eliminated Lucknow Super Giants could change that if RCB win.