IPL 2025: Tale of two captains, Shreyas Iyer upstages Rishabh Pant

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At the risk of sounding invidious it can be said Shreyas Iyer is leading Punjab Kings by example. This was one of the lesser hyped match-ups in the IPL 2025 between two captains who represent two different franchises with a different ethos.

Even before the match had ended at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday night, quite a few in Lucknow Super Giants looked like fools on April 1. For sure, Rishabh Pant's leadership skills and own batting skills this season have been poor, casting doubts on his form and leadership against Punjab Kings.

Pant had led LSG to a clear win in their previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an away match. What one saw at their own home ground in Lucknow was hard to digest. Fans rubbed their eyes in disbelief as the curator has prepared a black soil pitch which helped the Punjab fast bowlers.

This is turning out to be a strange weather pattern in March end/April in north India, where the day temperature is in high mid 30s Celsius but the evening temperature sees a dip. Nobody is shivering inside the arena, but what Arshdeep Singh produced was one of the most classic spells. Lean, mean and hungry, the lanky Sardar showed cunningness as he gunned down three LSG batters giving away 43 runs. The runs did not matter, as the hosts had managed to post just 171, which was below par.

Adding pace and swing to the Punjab Kings attack were Kiwi Lockie Ferguson, who took one wicket for 26 runs in three overs and Marco Jansen from South Africa. To see the quicks in flow was strange, since the same Ekana track has been a dirt-track of sorts in the past.

Overheard, even Zaheer Khan, who has joined the coaching staff at LSG, remarked, the curator didn't seem to have prepared a track for the home team. The chatter over wicket preparations has peaked in IPL 2025. Yes, the curators do a professional job and if skippers are going to insist pitches are 'doctored' that will not always happen.

Back to the basics of batting, LSG were at sea against the Punjab fast medium variety, where the bowlers stuck to the basics well. Someone like Arshdeep uses his skills with intelligence. As a left-armer, he knows how to find the right length, angle and trouble the batters. If someone has to be blamed, really, it is Rishabh Pant. His aura has turned into some kind of arrogance now.

His batting has become difficult to watch. Having picked up a cool Rs 27 crores at the IPL auction last December, Pant has done nothing to show he deserves such a rich pile. On Wednesday, he was out for two runs. Pant talked later of the team falling short by 20 or 30 runs. The LSG skipper should introspect, since his own batting has been very poor. It was nice to see Pant flash and chance his luck in the BGT Series in Australia. To think, in the IPL, he will get away so easily is foolhardy.

A thing or two about Punjab Kings. Many feel, Ricky Ponting as coach/mentor had not done enough with the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in his previous IPL stints. Like the migratory bird, he flew to Punjab Kings and right at the auction there was a clear plan on what the team wanted.

The combination of Ponting and Shreyas is at work, planning and scheming. Two wins straightaway does put Punjab Kings in a good position, though it is still early days in the IPL. The challenge is to sustain form for weeks in a row.

But the man on a mission is Shreyas Iyer. On Wednesday, news of the Mumbaikar getting a "Grade A" contract back with the BCCI also came out. What it means is pampering ego, since Shreyas had been treated badly by the BCCI. He is back with vengeance. No cliché, Shreyas has been performing and proving himself. For the knowledgeable and discerning fans of IPL, everyone knows Shreyas versus Pant dates back to their days in the Delhi Capitals.

Shreyas also won the 2024 IPL trophy for KKR and wanted to test his own 'price' in the IPL auction. Nothing wrong with that, since these IPL team owners are so haughty. Shreyas had the guts to say goodbye to KKR and boss Venky Mysore. The flight from Kolkata to Punjab has been smooth. Most important, Shreyas sets high standards with his own batting. To score 52 runs off 30 balls on Tuesday, it defined Shreyas the batter and leader. The funny part, nobody in the BCCI thinks Shreyas should be part of the T20 national team.

Food for thought!