IPL 2025, GT vs PBKS: How the 'Impact Players' fared
What's the story
Punjab Kings (PBKS) beat Gujarat Titans in their 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) opener at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.
Shreyas Iyer, on his PBKS captaincy debut, led his team from the front as his 97* helped the Kings finish at 243/5.
Though the Titans made a strong response, they (232/5) fell short at the end.
Here we decode the performances of the 'Impact Players' in the game.
Summary
How did the game pan out?
Iyer joined Priyansh Arya (47) in the fourth over after GT elected to field. The duo added 51 runs.
Iyer (97*) later found another potent partner in Shashank Singh (44* off 16).
The two batters went berserk toward the end as PBKS finished at 243/5.
In response, GT were in the hunt till the very end thanks to Sai Sudarshan (74), Jos Buttler (54), and Sherfane Rutherford (46).
However, some class death bowling from PBKS pacers meant GT fell short.
GT
A fine cameo from Rutherford
Rutherford was GT's 'Impact Player' as he replaced Prasidh Krishna.
The Titans were comfortably placed at 145/2 when he arrived to bat.
Rutherford made his intentions clear straightaway, smoking a six off his second ball.
However, some terrific death bowling from Marco Jansen and Vijaykumar Vyshak restricted the southpaw later on.
He eventually fell to Arshdeep Singh in the final over.
The dasher's 28-ball 46, which was laced with four boundaries and three maximums, went in vain.
PBKS
Sensational death bowling from Vyshak
Pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak, who was GT's 'Impact Player', was surprisingly introduced in the 15th over.
He gave away just five runs from that over, bringing the scoring rate down.
While he conceded five runs in the 17th over as well, the 19th one saw him go for 18.
Despite this, he played a vital role in PBKS' triumph, finishing with 0/28 from three overs.