KKR tease Preity Zinta for comment on Shreyas Iyer's 97* with shortest tweet after Quinton de Kock's knock
Preity Zinta applauded new captain Shreyas Iyer for his 97*, while Iyer's former franchise KKR also saw Quinton de Kock score 97* a day later in a win.
IPL 2025 has already seen two scores of exactly 97*, with Shreyas Iyer’s belligerent debut innings for Punjab Kings being added to by Quinton de Kock in a successful run-chase for Kolkata Knight Riders against RR.
De Kock finished a comfortable chase for the defending champions as he hit 4, 6, 6 off the last three balls against Jofra Archer. He hit a maximum with 5 runs needed when batting on 91*, falling just short of scoring a century in his second appearance for the Knight Riders.
The KKR team’s X handle posted in appreciation of de Kock’s innings, which guided the chase home on a tricky pitch, albeit not against a very big target. KKR won by 8 wickets with 15 deliveries to spare.
Former KKR captain applauded for his own 97*
A day earlier, Shreyas Iyer had looked in fine touch as he whacked nine sixes enroute to his own 97*(42). Iyer was hunting for his debut IPL century, having scored 96 twice in the past but never quite getting over the line.
Punjab Kings owner Preity Zinta herself greatly complimented captain Shreyas’s innings in his debut for Punjab, writing on X after PBKS had beaten Gujarat Titans: “What an incredible start to this tournament. Some 97’s are better than a hundred. Take a bow @ShreyasIyer15 for showing class, leadership & aggression.”
“Loved how the team played as a unit” added Zinta, mentioning some other PBKS debutants following this. Iyer was the captain of the KKR team as they won the IPL trophy last year, but made an INR 26.75 crore move to Punjab Kings, leading the franchise as they hunt for their first IPL trophy.
While Shreyas was on 97* with several deliveries of the first innings left, he left things over to PBKS finisher Shashank Singh, who was in tremendous form as he struck a powerful 44* of his own, taking only 16 deliveries.
After the innings, Shashank told broadcasters that his captain had told him not to think about the century, but rather to try and get PBKS to as high a total as possible against Gujarat.
PBKS finished the first innings on 243/5, with Shashank’s blitz at the death pushing the score forward and just beyond GT’s reach. Iyer received plenty of credit for his decision to secede strike to Shashank, who struck boundaries on 5 deliveries in the final over, instead of hunting for his milestone.
