IPL 2026 LSG vs PBKS Highlights: Shreyas Iyer scores maiden century, keeps Punjab in playoff race

Oh the only way Iyer could get to three figures was by hitting a six and that is exactly what he does. Punjab Kings stay alive in the race for the playoffs. They have won for the first time in seven matches. Iyer finishes unbeaten on 101 off 51 balls. What a knock this was from him. 

Shami returns for his final over and gets pasted by Iyer. The first ball is sent over long leg for a six. Then another six over midwicket third ball, he runs two off the next ball and then smashes the last ball over cow corner for the third six of the over. 

He is on 92 off 46, Suryansh Shegde at the other end yet to face a delivery. 

Iyer has never scored an IPL century. There's the commentator's curse. 

PBKS 182/3 in 16 overs, need 15 to win from 24 balls. 

Well that was some delivery from Tendulkar. Slow yorker nailed to perfection. Prabhsimran has been hit full on the boot and is plumb as they come. Muted celebration from Tendulkar but the way he and Pant looked at each other for a few seconds showed how much he wanted this. This has been a good debut for Tendulkar. 

Prabhsimran Singh lbw b Tendulkar 69 (39)
PBKS 162/3 in 15 overs, need 35 to win from 30 balls

Prabhsimran was seemingly dismissed first ball of that over by Prince Yadav with what looked like a sharp catch at covers. Badoni was down on his knees and dove forward to take it. But then replays show that he had grassed it a bit. The batters ran a single there. Then a four each for Iyer and Prabhsimran.

PBKS need 47 to win from 36 balls. 

Half centuries for both Shreyas Iyer and Prabhsimran Singh. PBKS got 14 runs each off the 12th over by Mohsin Khan and the 13th over by Digvesh Rathi and they are well on their way to finally winning their first match in seven games. 

Iyer on 56 off 34, Prabhsimran on 62 off 33 balls. 

Shreyas and Prabhsimran in the 40s now but there has been a slow down in the last two overs. The brilliant Shami returns for a 3rd over in the 11th, gives away just six runs. 

They need 86 to win from 54 balls. 

Tendulkar's second over in the match, his second delivery was short and Iyer pulled it down long leg for a four. Single next ball and then Prabhsimran bounces down the track early. Tendulkar seems to see that, he bowls it short, Prabhsimran adjusts by ramping it over the wicketkeeper for four. Prabhsimran steps across last ball and pulls it over square leg for six. 

He is on 40 in 21, Iyer on 33 off 22. 

PBKS 94/2 in 9 overs, need 103 to win from 66 balls. 

Shreyas Iyer has come in and set the agenda for PBKS. He has raced to 24 in 13 balls, Prabhsimran at the other end on 20 off 12. Arjun Tendulkar to bowl the seventh over now. 

PBKS 65/2 in 6 overs

It's Cooper Connolly this time! Shami with that trademark upright seam angling into the Australian, the ball pitches full, goes past Connolly's outside edge and uproots the off stump. 

Connolly b Mohammed Shami 18 (10)
PBKS 22/2 in 2.2 overs

Connolly with a couple of fours off Prince Yadav there to make it a good over for PBKS. Now Shami returns and he will be bowling to Prabhsimran, who has faced just two deliveries thus far for one run. 

PBKS 21/1 in 2 overs

Second duck in a row for Priyansh Arya! Is that how he signs off this season? Shami bangs it in short of a length, Arya with an absolutely tame pull, had no confidence in that shot whatsoever, almost a hopeful swing of the bat. Arjun Tendulkar has an easy catch to take at midwicket and the big man makes no mistake. 

Arya c Tendulkar b Mohammed Shami 0 (1)
PBKS 0/1 in 0.1 overs

Make no mistake, this is going to be a real uphill struggle for PBKS. LSG's pacers have been their lone bright spark this season, PBKS's batting has been in tatters in the last six matches. And the worst part of it has been their non-functioning opening combination of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh. Arya to face Shami now. 

Arshdeep Singh concedes 17 runs in that last over, three of which came from wides. He finishes with utterly dismal figures of 0/52. PBKS need to chase down a target of 197 to stay in contention for a playoff spot. The quicker they chase down and the lesser the number of wickets they lose, the bigger is their gain on NRR. Now that could matter if RR lose tomorrow and KKR become the last contender for the final playoff spot. If RR win, the result of this match will be purely academic. Interesting that Iyer allowed both Omarzai and Vyshak to finish off without bowling their full quota of overs but PBKS have done well overall in restricting LSG below 200. 

Well, Tendulkar is off the mark for LSG. Mukul Choudhary fell to Marco Jansen fifth ball of the 18th over, and Arjun Tendulkar walked out. He took a single off his first ball. And so will stay on strike to face Vyshak. LSG have gone completely off the boil. 

LSG 173/6 in 18 overs

Shreyas Iyer was standing at an unusually straight long on and well, that field placement has paid off. So has giving Shashank a third over. Inglis tries to hit a length delivery down the ground. Shreyas rins to his left and takes a good catch. 

Inglis c Iyer b Shashank Singh 72 (44)
LSG 169/5 in 17 overs

Shashank Singh rolled his arms over in the 15th over and went for 13 runs. Josh Inglis still going strong for LSG. In fact, it has pretty much been a one-man show from him thus far. He is on 69 off 40, Abdul Samad at the other end on one off two. 

LSG 147/4 in 15 overs

No season-ending century for Rishabh Pant this time. Chahal's fifth ball of the 14th over, Pant gets down on a knee and goes for that no-holds-barred slog-sweep he does off a googly. Goes high in the air and Jansen takes the catch at backward square leg. 

Pant c Jansen b Chahal 26 (22)
LSG 134/4 in 13.5 overs

What could've been a good over from Vijaykumar Vyshak spoilt by what happened in the last two balls. Just two runs off the first two balls and the Inglis smashes a four off the fifth past mid off. The fifth ball is tonked towards deep square leg. Arshdeep Singh seemed to take the catch and throw it up in the air when his momentum took him over the boundary. But he had stomped on the boundary pads with the ball still in his hands and so it is a six. 

An abrupt end to an innings that was taking monstrous proportions for PBKS. Well this has come out of nowhere. Chahal brought in for the seventh over. The fourth ball was a quick one outside off, Badoni tries to cut and is beaten. Prabhsimran breaks the stumps and appeals, even though Badoni looks well within the crease in real time. Replays show that Badoni had lifted his foot off the ground for no reason really after the ball went past him, Prabhsimran took the bails off that very second. Dozy from Badoni, yes, but conversely, very very sharp work there from Prabhsimran. 

Badoni st Prabhsimran Singh b Chahal 43 (18)
LSG 69/3 in 6.4 overs

Ayush Badoni you beauty! Single off the first ball by Azmatullah Omarzai and then he bowls a wide down the leg side. Then Badoni goes 4, 6, 6, 2, 5. He has raced to 42 in 16 balls and almost single handedly saved the powerplay for LSG. 

LSG 66/2 in 6 overs

Jansen has taken a beating here. The first ball was short of a length on the pads, Badoni flicked it square for four. He is beaten outside off stump next ball and then a short of a length delivery that sits up nicely, Badoni hits it flat past mid on for another four. Jansen goes too short next ball, this time Badoni hits it over square leg for six. Jansen goes around the wicket, sends in a short of a length delivery, Badoni waits for it and guides it over deep third for a four. 

Badoni on 20 off 11 at the end of that over, Inglis on 18 off 11. 

LSG 42/2 in 5 overs

He chops on and Jansen strikes. Short of a length delivery fifth ball of the third over. Pooran seems to have lost his balance and form while trying the pull shot. Bottom edge onto the stumps. 

Pooran b Jansen 2 (7)
LSG 70/2 in 2.5 overs

Arshin Kulkarni had the perfect chance to take his time and shine with Inglis off to a fier at the other end. Instead, he takes a half-hearted swipe at a length ball outside off, bottom edge and the keeper takes the catch. 

Kulkarni c Prabhsimran b Omarzai 0 (1)
LSG 16/1 in 1.1 overs

Arshdeep's first ball was a little too wide and full, Inglis gets the front foorward and plays a textbook punch through covers for four. Two dot balls follow and then, Arshdeep bangs it in short, Inglis pulls it to the square leg boundary for another four. Arshdeep stays short of a length, Ingis hits that one straight down the ground for another four. The last ball is sent over mid on for a fourth four. 

We have another Tendulkar debut on our hands in the IPL. Arjun Tendulkar will be playing for the first time for LSG. But he will be in action only later in the night. For now, Josh Inglis is facing up to Arshdeep Singh, Arshin Kulkarni at the non-striker's end. 

Shreyas Iyer - We're going to bowl first. We've got two changes, Marco (Jansen) and Vyshak (Vijaykumar) come in. It is suddenly exciting (on being in a do-or-die situation). It's like a do or die game for us. I would say rather do. So it's looking forward to the challenge. Never been in this situation before, as in the league table. But the boys are super excited. They're eagerly waiting to see how it turns out at the end of the day.

Rishabh Pant - I think we would have bowled first also because the wicket here, this wicket is good for batting irrespective of bowling first or batting first. It definitely is one of the better wickets where we have played this season. I think it's going to be one of the most high scoring matches. We have two changes. Arjun (Tendulkar) comes in and Arshin (Kulkarni) come in. Everyone knows it's been a tough season for us, but it has also been a time of significant learning, both as a team and personally. We sincerely apologize to our fans who have come in big numbers to support us from across the country, especially from all of UP. At the same time, we are determined to come back stronger as a team, regardless of the outcome, to cheer them up and we will give our 100%.

Lucknow Super Giants: Josh Inglis, Arshin Kulkarni, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Arjun Tendulkar, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, Mohsin Khan

Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh(w), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Punjab Kings have won the toss and chosen to field first. 

Graeme Swann and Aaron Finch did the pitch report today on Star Sports and this is what they had to say: "Sometimes it is a good place to bowl. However, I have some bad news for the bowlers straight away: the boundary sizes. 60 metres to my left, 61 to my right, and 76 down the ground. That is tiny. There is no good news in the boundary sizes, but what about the pitch? It's 70% red soil, 30% black soil. What that means, I think, could favour the batters as well. So not a great night to be a bowler, but to find out more, we have Aaron Finch. Good day, Swanny. Great to be here. Yeah, like you said, this outfield is very, very short tonight. They've brought the boundaries in. But as soon as I come down and look at this wicket, the first thing you notice is how patchy it is. There are little bits of grass, but there are also a lot of really dry patches right throughout. So for me, that will give the bowlers a little bit of a reprieve. And one thing, it's been tough year for LSG throughout this season, particularly at this ground. But the one thing they can hold their hat on, is that their quicks have been exceptional at nailing that 6-8 metre length, they concede under a run a ball when they find that length. So both teams will be looking at that and really looking to exploit it tonight. As for the wicket, bat first, trouble. Batting second, you can chase down the total later on. Well, I'm glad to hear there might be a bit more in it for the bowlers tonight, but it still looks pretty good."

Those dots (...) represent a word that we can't write here, neither can Rishabh Pant say on live television during an IPL broadcast. Or so one would believe, it is a standard rule in any live television broadcast programme that one can't swear on air, wonder if that rule is actually not there in the IPL. Well, thus far, Pant has not received any sanctions whatsoever for dropping that little F-bomb which had left poor Ian Bishop having to issue a short apology. Perhaps that moment, more than any other, captures the manner in which the wheels have come off for LSG this season. In fact, so bad have they been throughout this season that one might argue that the wheels were never even properly fitted on this bandwagon. 

... feels like centuries ago but it happened this season itself, if you can believe it. Priyansh Arya blazed a surreal 93 in 37 balls to take Punjab Kings to a score of 254/7. Marco Jansen struck twice while Vijaykumar Vyshak took one wicket and conceded just 30 runs as LSG were restricted to a score of 200/5. The margin of victory for PBKS was 54 runs but it would've been more had they held on to their catches. 

Punjab Kings were looking unbeatable. Their batters were firing everywhere so efficiently that any small problems in their bowling lineup was papered over. At the end of the first seven games, they were the runaway leaders, having won six of those games. The only game they didn't win was a washout against KKR and so they got a point from that. Then, finally, their run of victories ended in their last match of the league stage in Mullanpur. And then came another defeat. And another. And another. Before they knew what had hit them, PBKS's six wins at the start of the season was matched by six consecutive defeats. There were lots of unhealthy noises in social media as well, particularly around their star pacer Arshdeep Singh. A defeat today would complete one of the most spectacular collapses in the history of the IPL's league stage. 

The playoff race overall really hinges on the result of tomorrow's match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. If RR win that match, then it's the end of the playoff race. They will go up to 16 points, which is impossible for Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals to get to. 

Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer will have contrasting takeaways from a win this evening. For Pant, a sliver of happiness and confidence will be reassuring after a messy week in terms of national selection. A lot will be on the line for Iyer too, with the positivity of a superb start risking a fatal crash in Lucknow.