Captain Shreyas Iyer is pleased that Punjab Kings displayed the right mindset after being put under the pump by aggressive Rajasthan Royals top-order batters as the visitors survived the carnage to inch closer to the IPL 2025 play-offs, in Jaipur, on Sunday.
Punjab Kings smashed their way to a huge 219/5 but that challenging total looked under threat when Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi rattled up 76 runs in just 4.5 overs for RR.
Spinner Harpreet Brar provided the breakthrough by removing both the openers to open up the opportunity for Punjab Kings.
"The guys were in high spirits. We showed the mindset that we wanted to win irrespective of the situation," Iyer said after the match.
"The body language tends to drop when opposition plays well. Brar is consistent in the nets. Today he stepped in and delivered. His mindset has been tremendous throughout. Absolutely brilliant
The Punjab skipper revealed that he suffered a finger injury during practice.
"Don't know what has happened. Yesterday while practice, I got hit. Will have to check," he said.
RR captain Sanju Samson rued that they could not carry on the momentum from the Powerplay.
"It was gettable with the kind of the wicket and outfield. With our batting line-up and power-hitters, we thought it was chaseable. We just have to get the job done and finish off the innings," he said.
"We have experienced guys, we are trying our best but things are not falling our way. We can't try much. First priority is to win the game. Try a few options keeping next year in mind."
Punjab Kings pacer Marco Jansen, who played a hand in his team's win with some good overs at the back end, said they just stayed in the game by keeping things simple.
"The ball was just flying everywhere. For us it was about staying in the game. Talk was about two or three or four good overs would bring their run rate down. We did that quite well and finished it off at the back end," he said.
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