Jaipur, May 18 (IANS) Punjab Kings were without their captain Shreyas Iyer during the second innings against Rajasthan Royals due to a finger injury sustained by him in practice before the match.

After the 10-run win over Rajasthan in Jaipur, Iyer confirmed the injury and said he had to check on that. During the match, he was sitting in the dugout and passing his instructions to the players in the middle.

It was batting paradise as 428 runs were scored in the match with Punjab duo Nehal Wadhera (70) and Shashank Singh’s (59 not out) half-centuries overpowering Yashasvi Jaiswal’s (50) and Dhruv Jurel’s (53) efforts at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

“The reason is the finger over here (pointing at his forefinger). I don’t know what has happened. Yesterday while practising I got hit, I will have to go and check what is the issue here. I was just passing on the message to all the players to keep a positive body language, you tend to drop and feel the game has gone away from you, but I am proud of every player out there to show that sort of great and bold approach,” Iyer said in the post-match presentation.

For Punjab, Harpreet Brar returned with the best figures of 3-22 with crucial scalps of Vaibhav Suryavanshi (40), Jaiswal and Riyan Parag.

Iyer lauded left-arm spinner’s performance that bagged him the Player of the Match accolade. “He has been consistent in the nets. He wants to do the best for himself, he was hungry for this opportunity and today I feel he stepped in and delivered at his best, congratulations to him and his mindset has been tremendous throughout.

“Absolutely brilliant approach and attitude coming in after the break, the boys were in high spirits and we also needed a rest, going forward in the tournament, it was the right time we came in together and showed the kind of mindset to win irrespective of the situation. Going forward we saw that the spinners were difficult to charge over, we hardly got runs off their spinners and that’s one learning, apart from that we can change the game from any situation,” he added.

Punjab have solidified their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs with 17 points in 12 games to occupy second spot in the points table, only behind Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

–IANS

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