New Delhi: 

Punjab Kings (PBKS) have borne fruit of their rampant run in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 as they qualified for the playoffs stage after 11 long years in the tournament. As soon as Gujarat Titans (GT) beat Delhi Capitals (DC) on Sunday night, they opened the gates for PBKS and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as well as themselves to clinch a playoff berth each.

With two games remaining, the team will be eyeing the next target of finishing in the top two places, to have the advantage of Qualifier 1, which gives another chance to the losing side, and the winning side heads straight for the final. A third or fourth finish would take teams to the Eliminator, where a loss would knock them out.

PBKS next play DC on May 24 in Jaipur, a rematch of the midway-abandoned May 8 clash, which began the events of IPL’s temporary suspension recently. Their last encounter will be against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on May 26 in Jaipur as well. The city will act as PBKS’ home ground for these two games, instead of Dharamsala, where the games were originally scheduled.

Yes! Iyer, as a captain in the cash-rich league, has proved to be exceptionally well for all the franchises he has handled the reins of. With PBKS’ qualification for the knockouts, he has become the first and only captain in the history to lead three different teams into the IPL playoffs.

No doubts on his price soaring at the IPL mega auction last year, as he has proven his mettle to be worthy of it. In 2019 and 2020, he was in charge of the Delhi Capitals and took them into the playoffs in both seasons, notably qualifying them for their first-ever final as well (in 2020). 

His captaincy saw a major improvement when he helmed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the previous year and not just took them to the playoffs or into the final, but the ultimate grand prize, the IPL title that came after 10 years! This was Kolkata’s third trophy and Iyer’s first title as a captain. 

And now, in the current IPL season, he has taken PBKS into the playoffs – a team that he joined only a few months back as his new IPL home. The team had last qualified for the playoffs back in 2014, when they even played the final but ultimately lost their stellar campaign to KKR’s second title. 

PBKS, commanded by Shreyas Iyer, claimed their eighth victory of the campaign on Sunday afternoon as they beat Rajasthan Royals by 10 runs in Jaipur and tied up with RCB at the third spot, having 17 points. Both awaited a win from Gujarat to become qualified, and the stars aligned brilliantly for them. Talking of Iyer taking PBKS into the playoffs, this is for the third time he has done it in IPL history.

With two games remaining, the team will be eyeing the next target of finishing in the top two places, to have the advantage of Qualifier 1, which gives another chance to the losing side, and the winning side heads straight for the final. A third or fourth finish would take teams to the Eliminator, where a loss would knock them out.

PBKS next play DC on May 24 in Jaipur, a rematch of the midway-abandoned May 8 clash, which began the events of IPL’s temporary suspension recently.

Their last encounter will be against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on May 26 in Jaipur as well. The city will act as PBKS’ home ground for these two games, instead of Dharamsala, where the games were originally scheduled.

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RCB, Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans seal berth in IPL 2025