Mumbai: Shreyas Iyer produced a captain’s knock for the ages as he smashed an unbeaten century to guide Punjab Kings to a crucial victory over Lucknow Super Giants in their IPL 2026 clash at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Chasing a challenging target of 197 to keep their playoff hopes alive, Punjab Kings found themselves under pressure after losing openers Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly early in the innings. However, Shreyas steadied the chase brilliantly and stitched together a match-winning 140-run partnership with Prabhsimran Singh for the third wicket. Prabhsimran played a fluent innings of 69 runs before departing with Punjab still needing 35 runs. Shreyas, however, carried the chase till the end in spectacular fashion. With three runs required for victory and five needed for his century, the PBKS skipper sealed both milestones in style by smashing Mohsin Khan for a six over cow corner in the 18th over.
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The unbeaten 101-run knock marked Shreyas’ maiden IPL century and also placed him in the record books. He became the first captain in IPL history to score a century while batting at number four or lower in an innings. In doing so, Shreyas surpassed the previous highest score by a captain batting in the middle order, held by Dinesh Karthik, who had scored 97 not out for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2019. Riyan Parag and Rohit Sharma also feature among the highest scorers in this category.
Shreyas also entered another elite list by becoming only the third captain in IPL history to score a century during a successful run chase. He joined former Indian stars Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli, who had previously achieved the feat. The remarkable innings not only revived Punjab Kings’ playoff hopes but also reinforced Shreyas Iyer’s reputation as one of the league’s finest leaders under pressure.
