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The 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season has brought to an end Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) 11-year wait to make the IPL Playoffs.
And with victory over the Mumbai Indians in its last home league stage fixture, the Shreyas Iyer-led side has ensured it will have two shots at making just its second final.
After the victory, batter Shashank Singh said that the team is ecstatic that its manifestation ahead of the season has come to fruition.
“It feels surreal. When the auctions were done, we had a group on WhatsApp where we had conversations and manifested that this year we would win the title. The first aim was to finish in the top two, and we passed that hurdle,” Shashank said.
“Manifesting is one thing, believing is another. We worked hard for this, and credit goes to every single individual associated with Punjab Kings. It’s not easy finishing in the top two of the league like the IPL,” he added.
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The Chhattisgarh batter also heaped praise on head coach Ricky Ponting and captain Shreyas Iyer for creating a perfect team culture.
“The main motto of Ricky sir and Shreyas since day one has been the need to maintain a culture, the need to care for each other, and then the result will take care of itself,” the 33-year-old said.
“Ricky has been by far the best coach I’ve played under. He has changed our mindset and belief, and the credit must go to him for changing our perspective of the game,” he added.
PBKS will miss the services of Marco Jansen, who will return to prepare for the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa. But Shashank believes the team has enough firepower to deal with his absence.
“Marco has been an asset. But, we have players like Azmat (Omarzai) and Kyle (Jamieson) who can fill his boots. In all the league games we’ve played, we’ve had new heroes, and hopefully we can all come together and win the title,” the middle-order batter said.
