Punjab Kings batter Shashank Singh revealed that captain Shreyas Iyer asked him to not bother about his hundred and go for the big shots while playing the last over in the first innings against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Iyer was three runs away from his maiden IPL century but had a selfless discussion with Singh before the start of the final over. Singh, who was retained by PBKS, smashed five boundaries in the final over against Mohammed Siraj and took 23 runs in the over to help the visitors post 243 runs on the board.

The right-hander scored a blistering knock of 44 runs off just 16 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes and scored his runs at a whirlwind strike rate of 275.

Singh said during the mid-inning break, “Yes, it was a good cameo. But looking at Shreyas, that motivated me even more. Let me be very honest – Shreyas, from ball one said, ‘don’t worry about my hundred’. Just watching the ball and reacting to it. I try and make sure I get the boundaries. When you go at that number, it’s more likely that you’ll not get a good hit. I know the shots I can back. I focus on my strengths rather than things which I can’t do.”

On the other hand, Iyer scored a match-winning knock of 97 runs off just 42 balls with the help of five fours and nine maximums. The PBKS captain scored his runs at a splendid strike rate of 230.95.

In response, PBKS was able to restrict Gujarat Titans to 232-5 and registered an 11-run win in their opening game of IPL 2025.

Punjab Kings will next take on Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Tuesday.