While the Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer just missed out on his century in his first IPL captaincy for the PBKS by remaining not out on 97 runs, Shashank Singh played one of the greatest cameos in tournament history during their first match of the IPL 2025, which was against the hosts Gujarat Titans on Tuesday evening. Singh later revealed skipper Iyer’s selfless act, which motivated him to play a game-changing knock. 

When the 33-year-old Shashank Singh came to bat in the first innings of the GT vs PBKS match of the fifth game in the IPL 2025, PBKS scored 162/5. In the 17th over of the innings, Shreyas Iyer, under whom KKR won the IPL 2024 title, smashed three sixes and one four to Prasidh Krishna and reached the 90-run mark.  

Shreyas Iyer faced only four balls in the last three overs

In the last three overs of the innings, Iyer managed to face only four balls, and Singh played the remaining 14 balls to add 42 runs. After smashing two sixes and one four to Rashid Khan in the 18th over, PBKS scored only one boundary in the next over of Kagiso Rabada, thanks to Iyer’s four on the first delivery of the over. 

At the start of the final over of the innings, Iyer needed three more runs to record his maiden IPL century. But Singh was too busy to smash Mohammed Siraj as the skipper had no chance to face a delivery. Singh smashed five fours in the final over to score 44 not out off 16 balls with six fours and two sixes. Meanwhile, with five fours and nine sixes, skipper Iyer recorded 97 not out in 42 balls, as their batting helped PBKS to score 243/5 in 20 overs, their second highest IPL total. 

Don't worry about my hundred: PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer to Shashank Singh

At the end of the innings, Singh revealed that captain Iyer told him not to think about his century. Singh completely focused on his strengths and did his best to score maximum runs for his team. 

Singh said, "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."