Finger injury prevents Shreyas from fielding against Rajasthan Royals

Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer suffered an injury to the index finger of his right hand in training on the eve of their match against Rajasthan Royals (RR), which was why he didn't take the field during RR's chase. Shashank Singh stood in as captain as PBKS registered a 10-run win.

Shreyas made 30 off 25 after winning the toss and choosing to bat, but was subbed out for their Impact Player, Harpreet Brar, at the start of the second innings.

"Reason is the finger over here. I don't know what has happened. Yesterday while practicing, I got hit," Shreyas said at the post-match presentation ceremony, with his injured finger taped up. "I'll have to go and check what exactly is the issue here."

PBKS made 219 for 5 on the back of half-centuries from Nehal Wadhera and Shashank. But Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi got off to a flyer in the chase as RR raced to 67 for no loss in five overs.

That's when left-arm spinner Brar broke up the opening stand by dismissing Suryavanshi in the fifth over. He conceded just five runs off his next over before having Jaiswal hole out at long-off in the ninth over. He capped off his performance by castling Riyan Parag in the 14th over to finish with figures of 3 for 22.

"[Brar] has been consistent in the nets, coming day in and out for practice sessions. And he wants to do the best for himself and he was hungry for this opportunity," Shreyas said. "And I feel that today he stepped in and delivered at his best. So, congratulations to him and also his mindset has been tremendous throughout."

While a left-arm spinner bowling to a left-handed batter is generally considered a positive matchup for the batter, Brar was the one to break the game open with the wickets of the two left-handed RR openers.

"We practice in nets, how to bowl to the left-hander, and even [PBKS head coach] Ricky Ponting sir has motivated me a lot for this, that even a left-arm spinner can get a left-handed batter out," Brar said, after being named Player of the Match.

"So, I worked on a lot of things. And their plan was clear, that they will charge me a little, they will look to hit me. So, my plan was to put the ball in my area and not make it easy for them to hit it

"The way the wicket was behaving, and they are very good players, the way they the powerplay was going. So in my mind, I didn't want to give them easy boundaries. If they charge me and hit boundaries, then it's fine. I just didn't want to give them an easy ball."