17 March,2026 05:33 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Shreyas Iyer (Pic: File Pic)
The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to kick off from March 28. So far, the schedule of only first 20 matches has been released due to state elections.
Ahead of the cash-rich league, the former Team India cricketer Irfan Pathan feels that Punjab Kings' Shreyas Iyer may think of using IPL as a platform to get his place in the Indian T20I team.
"I am not sure that Shreyas Iyer would be thinking of using the IPL as a stage to prove himself for a comeback into the T20I side. Shreyas Iyer is a proven cricketer. He has done really well in T20 cricket for Punjab Kings, yes, a different franchise, and he has done really well for Team India as well. He is a very important player in one-day cricket as far as the Indian team is concerned. I think there is a place for him in the T20 setup for Team India, and he is aware of that," he said.
The former cricketer then recollected the match against Mumbai Indians (MI) of the previous season, where Shreyas smashed Jasprit Bumrah's yorker to a boundary.
"That qualifier knock against Mumbai (41-ball 87' while chasing 204 runs, consisting of five fours and eight sixes), I still remember that shot against (Jasprit) Bumrah, gliding that yorker down towards third man with so much time. He has improved leaps and bounds. I am really excited to see if he can replicate the same performance this season as well. I am confident he will," said Pathan.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) will begin their IPL 2026 campaign by playing a match against Gujarat Titans (GT) on March 31 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh.
Punjab Kings: Marcus Stoinis, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shashank Singh, Praveen Dubey, Lockie Ferguson, Shreyas Iyer, Ben Dwarshuis, Vishnu Vinod (WK), Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Azmatullah Omarzai, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsmiran Singh (WK), Harpreet Brar, Priyansh Arya, Suryansh Shedge, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Pyla Avinash, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Vishal Nishad.
Gujarat Titans: Ishant Sharma, Jos Buttler (WK), Jason Holder, Jayant Yadav, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Tewatia, Luke Wood, Shahrukh Khan, Glenn Phillips, Prasidh Krishna, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Sai Kishore, Shubman Gill (C), Tim Banton (WK), Yarra Prithvi Raj, Anuj Rawat, Sai Sudharsan, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra (WK), Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Gurnoor Brar, Ashok Sharma.
(With ANI Inputs)
