Ahmedabad/IBNS: Mumbai Indians (MI) had never lost a game after scoring more than 200 in a game in the 18 seasons. Punjab Kings (PBKS) chose the crunch Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2025 to alter the fact, chasing the total down with more than an over to spare at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. 

PBKS will now join RCB in the final, making it there for the 1st time since 2014, and marking the 1st occasion since 2016 that the game will see a new champion.

The game began with the toss going in PBKS' favour, and in a manner identical to their last league encounter, PBKS had no second thoughts inviting MI to Bat before the game saw some unexpected rainfall come in.

The match was delayed for over two hours before the play could resume. The rule changed this year, allowing for playoff games to start late by 2 hours certainly seemed to have been a welcome one as the crowd got to see a complete mouth-watering encounter.

The rain did not seem to have deterred MI’s confidence as they started in a positive manner and despite losing Rohit Sharma early for 8 to Stoinis, looked to be in control, thanks to their replacement player Johnny Bairstow and Tilak Verma getting them off to a brisk start finishing their powerplay strong with the score at 65/1.

Bairstow fell soon after the powerplay, trying to scoop one off Vyshak, only helping it into the keeper’s hands. It did not matter though, as Surya promptly took over, continuing his rich vein of form and together with Tilak put on the teams’ second consecutive 50-run partnership.

At 142/2 in the 14th over, setting a target of around 220 may not have seemed too far-fetched for MI when PBKS struck a double blow to their plans, getting rid of both the batters at the crease for an identical score of 44.  First, Chahal got rid of the dangerous Surya trying to sweep him, followed by Tilak who tried to go after Jamieson only managing to sky it straight up, to be caught out by Priyansh Arya.

The quick wickets slowed down the momentum, and while Naman Dir struck a wonderful cameo of 37 off just 18 balls, MI could only muster up 203 for the loss of 6 wickets. Considering that they were 102/2 at the halfway stage of the innings, MI would have felt that they lost their way somehow. For PBKS, Omarzai led the wickets column with 2/43 while Chahal, Jamieson, Stoinis, and Vyshak took a wicket apiece.

The chase from PBKS too seemed to follow a similar flow as the MI innings, with Prabhsimran falling cheaply for just 6, before Priyansh and Inglis played a few aggressive shots to see the score race past 50 in just the 5th over, with Inglis going after the ever-consistent Bumrah scoring 20 of his 1st over. MI then turned to Ashwani Kumar, brought in as the impact sub, who struck immediately, getting rid of Arya for 20 in the last over of the powerplay.

Inglis had no intention of slowing down and continued his attacking gameplay while captain Shreyas stepped in to hold one end up. The MI captain Pandya brought himself on and he too was immediately rewarded with the prized scalp of Inglis for 38, and at 72/3 the game seemed to be firmly in MI’s grip.

Nehal Wadhera walked in and immediately went for a counterattack against his former franchise, taking Santner and Hardik on, helped in part by Boult, who dropped him by letting the ball slip from his hand in what turned out to be a very costly drop. The score reading 98/3 at the end of 10 overs and pretty much on par for such the chase and not too far behind where MI were themselves at that stage.

Shreyas Iyer and Nehal Wadhera together put on 84 runs, easily the best partnership of the game. Shreyas, with a hat-trick of sixes against Reece Topley, kept the pace up with Nehal and was marginally ahead in the game.

Ashwani Kumar returned to provide a breakthrough for the 2nd time in the innings, getting rid of Nehal, but not before he had made a valuable contribution of 48. At this point, 48 was also the runs required to win of 26 balls, when the strategic timeout was called out, providing a much-needed breather for both the teams in the tense knockout game.

Hardik effected a brilliant runout of Shashank at the other end of the timeout, to bring the game back in balance. Shreyas, though, who had also brought up his fifty, the first of the game across both teams, seemed unfazed and even saw a torrid spell from Bumrah, who finished at 0/40, despite the wonderful comeback.

With just 23 needed of the final 12, Shreyas unleashed himself in the final stages, going after the young Ashwani in the 19th over, hitting four sixes and finishing with a total of eight sixes in the innings and a captains unbeaten knock of 87 off just 41 balls.

The team finished with a total of 207/5. This win should give them enough confidence in the final game against RCB, brushing off the one-sided encounter earlier, and should make for an engaging encounter on Tuesday.

(With inputs from IPL website)