Even as he warmed up with his teammates at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday evening, Vyshak Vijaykumar had no idea that he would be brought in as an Impact Player for Punjab Kings.
But once the first innings was over and the Kings posted a mammoth 243 for five, the young fast bowler from Karnataka was asked by the team management to get ready to take the field.
By his own admission, it was a ‘surreal feeling’, but he ensured that he kept his cool and implemented the plan to perfection. When he was introduced in the 15th over, Gujarat Titans was cruising, with Sherfane Rutherford and Jos Buttler in a fiery mood. The chasing side had to score 75 runs in the final six overs.
Though there were quite a few wides to begin with, Vyshak did not lose the plot and kept bowling yorkers, giving away just ten runs in his first two overs, which brought the equation down to 57 runs needed from the last three.
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Even though he ended up conceding 18 runs in his last over to finish with figures of 0/28, his spell made the difference. Gujarat Titans’ all-rounder R. Sai Kishore admitted that the GT batters could’ve tried hitting more boundaries against Vyshak, rather than aiming for the sixes.
“Vyshak bowled brilliantly. All credit to him for the way he executed his yorkers. To be fair, I think those balls, it’s very easy for me to say, but I think we could have tried to hit more boundaries than just looking for sixes,” Sai Kishore said after the match.
“I think that’s a learning going forward, and we will do that. We were on course in such games, I think it is very easy to just get away from the game pretty quickly, like 150 or 160 [sic]. The best part was that we still lost the game only by 12 runs. It’s a long tournament, so competing well is very important.
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“In this kind of a run chase to only fall short by 12 runs was very good. So that is the positive, but still saying that we should have won this game,” he added.
After making his Indian Premier League debut for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2023, and taking 13 wickets across two seasons, the homegrown talent was let go ahead of the mega auction, where Punjab Kings secured him for Rs 1.8 crore.
Kings’ batter Shashank Singh also heaped praises on Vyshak for executing the plans to perfection. “Shreyas (Iyer) is someone who works on instincts, which is why he is one of the best skippers in the world right now,” Shashank said, lauding the Punjab Kings captain for bringing in Vyshak at the right time.
Shashank Singh of Punjab Kings and Shreyas Iyer (C) of Punjab Kings during match 5 of the Indian Premier League season 18 (IPL 2025) between Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings held at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on the 25th March 2025.
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Sportzpics for IPL
Shashank Singh of Punjab Kings and Shreyas Iyer (C) of Punjab Kings during match 5 of the Indian Premier League season 18 (IPL 2025) between Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings held at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on the 25th March 2025.
| Photo Credit:
Sportzpics for IPL
“The way Shreyas brought in Vyshak, I felt it was the right time to bring him in. And the way he bowled — during the bowling meeting, we talked about those things, and this was a planned move. The way he executed the plan was commendable because planning is one thing, and execution is another. He bowled during some tough overs, especially with the dew, and I felt that while fielding,” Shashank added.
While the team was elated to start its campaign on a winning note, it was also a memorable evening for the young fast bowler. “When you do it for the team and that, too, in such a situation, you can go back to bed with a lot of happiness,” Vyshak said in a video posted by the franchise.
With a new captain, coach and a bunch of fresh faces, Punjab hopes to make an impact this season, and one of its impact players has already made his presence felt.