'He was serving water when called by PBKS': Ashwin says not Shreyas Iyer but Vijaykumar Vyshak should've been POTM
Ashwin hailed Vijaykumar Vyshak for his crystal clear thinking under pressure situation and highlighted the effectiveness of a low full toss.
When Vijaykumar Vyshak came in as an Impact Player for Punjab Kings in their IPL 2025 opener against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, GT needed 75 runs in six overs with eight wickets in hand. Jos Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford were looking ominous. considering the nature of the pitch, the conditions - there was a lot of dew - one would have to GT had their noses in front in run chase. But Vyshak's introduction changed everything. The right-arm pacer from Karnataka executed wide yorkers to perfection, giving away just 28 runs in his three overs. He bowled the 15th, 17th and 19th over not allowing GT batters to get away. In the end, PBKS won the match by 11 runs.
PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer was awarded the Player of the Match for his brilliant 97* off 42 balls but former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin believes it should have Vyshak. Ashwin said the Karnataka fast bowler was serving drinks and sitting on the bench for the large part of the match before being summoned to bowl in the most difficult situation.
"One man was serving water to every player on the ground and was sitting in the dugout wearing a bib. The game was in the balance, maybe Gujarat were slightly ahead. Sherfane Rutherford and Jos Buttler were batting quite well. They called Vijaykumar Vyshak out of nowhere in the 14th over and told him to bring us back in the game. PBKS were out of the game. He bowled exceedingly well in the 17th and 19th over. Of course, he didn't get a wicket, but what brilliant death bowling," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
‘Vyshak is my MVP’: Ashwin
The Chennai Super Kings cricketer hailed Vyshak for his crystal clear thinking under pressure situation and highlighted the effectiveness of a low full toss.
"Crystal clear thinking, great execution. He nailed the wides yorkers, yes there a couple of full tosses I told bowlers that don't be afraid of bowling full tosses and nowadays the ball comes os beautifully off the pitch that batters get startled by full tosses. For me, Vyshak was the MVP. Secretly, Vijaykumar Vyshak should have been the Player of the Match," Ashwin added.
GT spinner Sai Kishore rued that GT failed to hit more boundaries during the course of the innings.
“This is also the first game of the season. We will also learn together. We will come back really stronger. We will work on the areas we need to improve and we will again compete,” he said.
“We were on course with Sai (Sudharsan) and (Jos) Buttler going very well. In the end, in the last five overs, to be honest, (Vijaykumar) Vyshak bowled brilliantly. All credit to Vyshak for the way he executed his yorkers.
“To be fair, I think those balls we could have, it's very easy for me to say, but we could have tried to hit more boundaries than just looking for sixes (and) that is the learning going forward and we will do that,” he added.
