Captain Shreyas Iyer scored a spectacular 87 not out to fire Punjab Kings to a five-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 and enter the IPL final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Punjab's entry to the title clash, also in Ahmedabad, on June 3 means the IPL will have a new champion as RCB have played three other finals and not won yet. Punjab have not played in a final since 2014.

For Iyer, it is an opportunity to lift the IPL in successive years, as he had helped the Kolkata Knight Riders triumph in 2024.

Iyer was brilliant as Punjab chased a target of 204 in a rainy Ahmedabad. He smashed eight sixes and five boundaries as Punjab won with an over to spare. Nehal Wadhera made 48 off 29 after Josh Inglish scored a 21-ball 38. Tilak Varma (44) and Suryakumar Yadav (44) had inspired Mumbai to a fighting total of 203/6.

The often reliable Jasprit Bumrah could not work his magic tonight, going wicketless with figures of 0/40 from 4 hours. Twenty of those runs came in the sixth over, in which Inglish smashed two sixes and as many fours off India's premier pacer.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 203/6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 44, Tilak Varma 44, Jonny Bairstow 38, Naman Dhir 37, Azmatullah Omarzai 2/43) lost to Punjab Kings 207/5 in 19 overs (Shreyas Iyer 87 not out, Nehal Wadhera 48, Josh Inglish 38, Ashwani Kumar 2/55)

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