Punjab Kings batter Shashank Singh’s boundary-hitting spree in the final over of the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Gujarat Titans left his captain Shreyas Iyer stranded on unbeaten 97 but the latter was not worried about his personal landmark.
Iyer missed his maiden IPL ton by a mere three runs but his 42-ball knock, which featured nine sixes and five fours, powered PBKS to a massive 243 for 5 and helped them win their season opener by 11 runs.
Shashank, who hit five of his six fours in the final over off Mohammed Siraj and took a double to collect 23 runs against the India pacer, said PBKS captain Iyer didn’t ask him to rotate the strike.
“I didn’t see the scoreboard, to be very honest. But after the first ball I hit (for a four), I saw the scoreboard and Shreyas was on 97,” Shashank, who scored a 16-ball 44 not out, told the media after the match on Tuesday.
“I didn’t say anything, he only came and told me ‘Shashank don’t worry about my hundred’, because obviously I was going to say to him that should I give you a single or something.
“It takes a lot of heart and courage to say because obviously hundreds don’t come easily in T20s especially in IPL,” he added.
Shashank said Iyer’s message was to keep attacking the bowler.
“Shreyas told me ‘Shashank go and just (try and) hit every ball for a boundary for a four or a six’. That gave me even more confidence, obviously, it’s a team game at the end of the day we all know,” he said.
“But then at those situations it’s difficult to be that selfless. But Shreyas was one. I know him since past 10-15 years. He is the same and he told me just to be calm, to play cricketing shots what I usually play, to maintain my balance and I think we had a good finish,” added Shashank.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Titans spinner R Sai Kishore, who returned with figures of 4-0-30-3, said his side thought they were ahead in the game.
Chasing 244, GT remained in the hunt but were eventually overpowered by the mammoth target, finishing at 232 for five in their stipulated 20 overs.
“We were also surprised, to be honest. We thought we were on course. We thought we were ahead of the game, we thought so,” Sai Kishore said.
“But in that situation, I think no matter what planning you do, if you are able to be fully zoned in in the present moment, that is the difference and these games happen.” Sai Kishore rued that GT failed to hit more boundaries during the course of the innings.
“This is also the first game of the season. We will also learn together. We will come back really stronger. We will work on the areas we need to improve and we will again compete,” he said.
“We were on course with Sai (Sudharsan) and (Jos) Buttler going very well. In the end, in the last five overs, to be honest, (Vijaykumar) Vyshak bowled brilliantly. All credit to Vyshak for the way he executed his yorkers.
“To be fair, I think those balls we could have, it’s very easy for me to say, but we could have tried to hit more boundaries than just looking for sixes (and) that is the learning going forward and we will do that,” he added.
