IPL 2026: Nehal Wadhera heaps praise on skipper Shreyas Iyer ahead of clash against MI

Nehal Wadhera. Pic/IPL

Punjab Kings batter Nehal Wadhera is confident about his team performing well against Mumbai Indians in tonight's IPL encounter at Wankhede. He revealed how skipper Shreyas Iyer and head coach Ricky Ponting's positive words have helped the team play without pressure till date.

"Shreyas told me to ‘play without any pressure, taking pressure is my [Iyer] job'. I think this says a lot about him as a captain. He enjoys the pressure... you can see it in his performance and batting. It's a big thing for a captain to say this to his player. I felt really good after hearing this, that you [should] play your own game and not worry about the results," Wadhera said during the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

Head coach Ricky Ponting with skipper Shreyas Iyer during Punjab Kings's practice session at Wankhede on Wednesday. Pic/Ashish Raje

Wadhera hailed Ponting for creating a positive dressing room environment. "I think he [Ponting] just speaks positively. He doesn't have any negative words in his dictionary. So, when there is so much positive talk in the atmosphere, the team environment becomes very good," added Wadhera.

Four
No. of 200-plus scores for Punjab Kings at Wankhede - the most by a visiting team

Zero
No. of matches Punjab Kings have lost this season; they are the only unbeaten team so far