IPL 2026: PBKS's Vijaykumar Vyshak shines with three-fer vs GT
What's the story
Punjab Kings (PBKS) made a strong start in their Indian Premier League (IPL) opener against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Mullanpur on Tuesday. The PBKS bowlers, led by Vijaykumar Vyshak, put up an impressive performance to restrict GT to a modest total of 162/6 in 20 overs. Vyshak was the pick of the PBKS bowlers, claiming three wickets. Here are further details.
Bowling brilliance
Vyshak struck with the old ball
Skipper Shubman Gill (39) and Jos Buttler (38) were going well at one stage as GT seemed cruising at 83/1. However, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal then trapped both batters. Meanwhile, Vyshak opened his account with the key wicket of Glenn Phillips, who made 25 runs. The penultimate over of the game saw the pacer dismiss two more dashers - Washington Sundar (18) and Shahrukh Khan (4).
Stats
Vyshak races to 20 IPL wickets
Vyshak finished his four-over spell with figures worth 3/34. The pacer has now raced to 20 wickets from 17 IPL matches at 11.33, as per ESPNcricinfo. His economy rate reads 8.5. Overall in the 20-over format, the 29-year-old has completed 64 wickets from 50 games at an economy rate of just under 9.
Wicket-takers
Who were GT's other wicket-takers?
While Vyshak and Chahal (2/28 from four overs) were the star performers for PBKS with the ball, Marco Jansen also contributed with a wicket at the cost of just 20 runs in his four-over spell. Pacers Arshdeep Singh (0/42) and Xavier Bartlett (0/36) bowled four overs each but failed to strike even once.