After six consecutive morale-denting losses, Punjab Kings finally put on a dominant show in the seven-wicket victory against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday (May 23, 2026).

PBKS, powered by an unbeaten century from captain Shreyas Iyer, thus kept alive its hopes in the thrilling playoff race. A Rajasthan Royals loss to Mumbai Indians on Sunday (May 24, 2026) could guarantee Kings a knockout spot for the second consecutive season.

Chasing a tricky 197, PBKS made a disastrous start. A returning Mohammed Shami struck with his very first ball to dismiss Priyansh Arya and then bowled Cooper Connolly with a sharp delivery that nipped.

The away side, however, recovered with the Shreyas-Prabhsimran Singh alliance as both batters went on the offensive when presented opportunities. Prabhsimran found the gaps to keep the run flow going and raced to his fifty off 28 balls.

The wicketkeeper-batter put on a match-winning 140-run third-wicket stand with his skipper before he was trapped LBW by Arjun Tendulkar. At the other end, Shreyas completed his century off the last ball of the chase to ensure his side got past the finish line with ease.

Earlier, Shreyas elected to bowl against a Mitchell Marsh-less LSG.

But Marsh’s absence hardly mattered for Josh Inglis as the Australian opener maintained his aggressive intent. He opened the innings with a flurry of boundaries off Arshdeep Singh, but Arshin Kulkarni’s golden duck and Nicholas Pooran’s brief stay in the middle stalled LSG’s momentum.

Ayush Badoni, however, revived the innings with a blistering 43 off just 18 balls before being brilliantly stumped by Prabhsimran off leggie Yuzvendra Chahal.

Inglis and skipper Rishabh Pant combined for a 65-run stand. While Inglis brought up his half-century by smashing 17 of the 19 runs in Arshdeep’s 12th over, Pant, who was dropped by Shreyas, eventually fell to Marco Jansen.

With Arshdeep being expensive, Shreyas turned to part-timer Shashank Singh. Boundaries dried up after the medium-pacer sent back Inglis, but Abdul Samad’s late assault on Arshdeep propelled LSG to a competitive 196 for six.

The total, however, seemed insufficient once Shreyas got into his zone.

Punjab Kings fast bowling coach James Hopes, who has had a long association with Shreyas Iyer in the IPL, believes the key to the India batter’s recent success is his ability to identify his shortcomings.

“He is very aware of what his perceived weaknesses were over the years, and he comes into this season having nailed them… Once he finds his way back into the Indian team, you will see the batter he is going to be for the rest of his career. A world-class short-format batter and someone who could fit into long-format cricket pretty easily,” Hopes, who has also spent three years with Shreyas as a coach at Delhi Capitals, said.

The former Australian all-rounder also hailed his captaincy, under which PBKS reached the final last year. “From a captaincy viewpoint, he has got a lot of experience. He was very young when he was captaining Delhi, and he is more experienced; he is very well planned, and he still follows his gut. When he is with the team, he is also one of the boys; he really endears himself to the group.”