LSG vs PBKS: Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings Dominate with Batting Prowess in Perfect IPL 2025 Start

After being set 172 to win against the Lucknow Super Giants, the Punjab Kings easily won by eight wickets with over four overs remaining. Additionally, Prabhsimran Singh and Nehal Wadhera joined the celebration as captain Shreyas Iyer extended his impressive batting run.

Early in the 18th season of the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bengaluru established their dominance and demonstrated their qualifications as a strong candidate for the championship this year. Having guided the Delhi Capitals to their lone IPL final in 2020 and helped the Kolkata Knight Riders win their third championship last year, Shreyas Iyer has had considerable success as an IPL skipper.

His leadership of Punjab Kings thus far this season, leading them to two victories in a row within a week, undoubtedly gives the "perennial underachievers" hope that they will soon be able to add some trophies to their cabinet, which has accumulated a lot of dust and cobwebs over the IPL's 17-year history.

PBKS defeated the Lucknow Super Giants by a commanding eight wickets in Lucknow on Tuesday, completing a two-in-two after defeating the Gujarat Titans by an exciting 11 runs in their season opener in Ahmedabad. In the process, the team led by Ricky Ponting demonstrated the one area in which they have the potential to dominate the other teams this season: their top four.

Punjab identifies their ideal top-four in clinical pursuit versus Lucknow.

What unites their two triumphs this season is their batting prowess - the Punjab Kings produced 243/5 against the Gujarat Titans on March 25 and chased down the 172-run total set by the Lucknow Super Giants with eight wickets and roughly four overs remaining on Tuesday.

Captain Iyer also led by example in both triumphs, allowing Shashank Singh to farm the strike in the dying overs and add extra 10-15 runs to their total at the expense of his maiden IPL century in Ahmedabad. On Tuesday, he extended his good run with the bat, which has lasted a few months, with an unbeaten 52 off 30 deliveries, including three fours and four sixes.

On both occasions, Iyer formed a good second-wicket combination with an opener to put the Kings in command after losing a wicket during the powerplay. Priyansh Arya blasted his way to a 23-ball 47 against GT, with Iyer sticking at the crease until the end to keep Punjab within touching distance of the 250-run mark. Middle-order batsman Shashank's unbeaten 44 off 16 balls came in very handy.

At Lucknow's Ekana Cricket Stadium, however, Iyer was content to sit back and let Prabhsimran do all of the heavy lifting. The wicketkeeper-batter's dominance in the powerplay allowed PBKS to race to 62/1 at the end of the sixth over, despite Arya being dismissed by Delhi colleague Digvesh Rathi in the second over.

LSG needed some early strikes and had to keep them to less than 50 runs in the powerplay if they were to defend 171 - a total that skipper Rishabh Pant later described as 20-25 runs short. Prabhsimran's blitz, which included two fours and a six in successive deliveries from Ravi Bishnoi, virtually ended the game before the Punjab chase could even reach the halfway point.

In the process, Prabhsimran and Shashank discussed why their franchise had maintained only the two of them while releasing the rest of the squad into the auction pool ahead of last year's major auction in Jeddah.

Prabhsimran ultimately fell at the start of the 11th over, with Ayush Badoni and Bishnoi snagging an excellent relay catch at the midwicket boundary to give Rathi his second wicket. However, Nehal Wadhera, making his first appearance for PBKS after replacing Yuzvendra Chahal as the 'Impact Player,' put the final touch with an unbeaten 43 off 25 balls, forming an unbroken third-wicket stand worth 67 off only 37 deliveries.

With two explosive openers in Prabhsimran and Arya, a versatile, in-form batter in Iyer who can go slam-bang or defensive depending on the situation, and Wadhera making a strong case for the No. 4 spot, PBKS may have found their ideal batting combination in their first two matches of the season.

And with three of those four players being uncapped Indians, the club has the freedom to use their foreign options in other areas, such as fielding Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis in the middle order alongside Shashank.

With back-to-back away victories, Iyer, Ponting, and the rest of the Punjab squad will be eager to play in front of a home crowd at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium in Mullanpur on Saturday, where they will face the Rajasthan Royals for the first time this season.