Shreyas Iyer’s maiden IPL century revives Punjab Kings’ playoff hopes in 7-wicket thumping of LSG

By Samira Vishwas On May 24, 2026

Punjab won their first match after six consecutive defeats in the IPL 2026. Chasing 197, PBKS reached the target in 18 overs with seven wickets in hand against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. Captain Shreyas Iyer and opener Prabhsimran Singh played match-winning innings for the Kings. Iyer scored his maiden IPL century to take the franchise home in an away fixture.

Lucknow pacer Mohammed Shami dismissed Priyansh Arya (0) and Cooper Connolly (18) to put the visiting team on the back foot. The situation would have become worse had Rishabh Pant not dropped Prabhsimran’s catch in Arjun Tendulkar’s first over of the match. He went to score 69 runs in 39 balls before the debutant Arjun got rid of him in his third over. The right-handed hit 7 fours and 2 sixes.

Iyer timed the chase to perfection, amassing an unbeaten 101 runs in 51 balls, laced with 11 fours and 5 sixes.

Earlier, Arshin Kulkarni (0) and Nicholas Pooran (2) returned to the dressing room without making big contributions. Josh Inglis managed 44-ball 72, with the help of 9 boundaries and 2 sixes.

Ayush Badoni was unstoppable, taking 18 balls to post 43, including 5 fours and 3 sixes. Rishabh struck 3 fours in his knock of 26 off 22 balls.

Abdul Samad remained unbeaten on 37 from 20 balls, smashing 3 fours and 3 sixes, as LSG reached 196 for 6 in 20 overs.

Marco Jansen and Yuzvendra Chahal claimed two wickets each, while Shashank Singh and Azmatullah Omarzai added one scalp each to their bowling figures.

Punjab Kings finished the league stage with 15 points from 14 games. If Rajasthan Royals beat the Mumbai Indians on May 24, Punjab will be eliminated. But if the results go in favour of the host franchise at the Wankhede Stadium, the Super Kings’ fate will be decided after the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Delhi Capitals clash. If KKR secure a win over DC, they would end the first round on 15 points, and the net run rate would come into play.