Mumbai, May 16 (IANS) As Punjab Kings remain in contention for a playoffs spot, legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels Shreyas Iyer will play a key role for them in the race to the play-offs, as IPL 2025 resumes on Saturday.

PBKS are currently in the third position with 15 points from 11 matches, a point behind Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who are sharing the top two positions with 16 points each — the Titans ahead on net run rate.

Talking about the importance of Shreyas Iyer’s leadership in keeping Punjab Kings in contention for the IPL 2025 playoffs spot, Gavaskar said, “That actually tells you the importance of captaincy because look, the coach is in there and he does come at the strategic time-out – the coach and the support staff. But at the end of the day, the decision in a split second has to be taken by the captain, and for that, I think you’ve got to give credit to Shreyas Iyer for the way he led last year because they were in a tough situation.”

“But he got them out of a tough situation to go on to win, and I think he’s doing exactly the same over here. They’ve had a bit of bad luck if you might call it that, because they started very well in the game at Dharamshala (which was later called off),” Sunil Gavaskar told IANS on the Star Sports Press Room show on Friday.

“They were 124-1 in 10 overs there, and that’s a fabulous start. Then again, at the Eden Gardens, they had scored about 206 or 207 – most often a winning score, but the game got rained off. So yes, they’ve had a little bit of luck not going their way. They’ll be hoping that it turns around this time,” he said.

In the resumed IPL 2025, Punjab Kings have three more matches to play. They will restart their campaign on Sunday with a clash with Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

PBKS will then meet Delhi Capitals in a rematch of the game that was halted 10.1 overs into action in Dharamsala on May 8. They will end their campaign against Mumbai Indians, another match that was to be held in Dharamsala but was later moved to Ahmedabad, in Jaipur on May 26.

–IANS

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