Shreyas Iyer breaks Virat Kohli's record as captain in an IPL season after PBKS skipper goes berserk vs MI

Shreyas Iyer was at the peak of his powers while steering Punjab Kings to their eighth 200-plus run-chase in T20 cricket and probably the most important one in the last decade as the Men in Red got past the Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier in Ahmedabad on Sunday, spilling into a bit of Monday. Punjab Kings skipper reiterated at the toss that the loss in the first qualifier was a blip and that the team had brushed it aside going into the second qualifier and Iyer led by example, taking his time and then calculating it and executing the chase to perfection.

Iyer was batting at a run-a-ball in the first 10 deliveries of his innings, then got to 42 off just 25 balls before turning into a beast, smashing the remaining 45 off his last 16 balls hitting as many as five sixes. Iyer hit as many as eight sixes in his innings, which helped him break Virat Kohli's record. Iyer now has 39 sixes in the season, the most by a captain, surpassing Kohli's 38 in his outrageous run in the 2016 edition of the IPL, where he nearly amassed 1000 runs in a season.

Iyer's 39 sixes are also the highest by a Punjab Kings batter in an IPL season, overtaking Glenn Maxwell, who hit the ball 36 times out of the ground in the 2014 edition. 

Most sixes in an IPL season by a captain

39* - Shreyas Iyer (PBKS), 2025
38 - Virat Kohli (RCB), 2016
31 - David Warner (SRH), 2016
30 - MS Dhoni (CSK), 2018
30 - KL Rahul (PBKS), 2021

Iyer also went past 600 runs for the first time in an IPL season, bettering his record of 519 runs in 2020 when he led the Delhi Capitals to the final and would be keen to go one better in the final. Iyer needs 67 runs to break the all-time record by a Punjab Kings batter for most runs in one season, currently held by KL Rahul (670).

Iyer, who won the title last year with Kolkata Knight Riders, would be keen to go back-to-back this time with the Punjab Kings.