When Punjab Kings sealed a record chase of 265 against Delhi Capitals, there was no big celebration from Shashank Singh or captain Shreyas Iyer in the middle.
This was after all the highest successful chase in T20 history, completed with more than an over to spare. Did that reaction mean that they were still processing the magnitude of what they had pulled off? Or has this PBKS side internalised this batting philosophy so much that such achievements now feel routine?
For most of the evening, the game had been about batting domination. KL Rahul's unbeaten 152 - the highest score by an Indian in the IPL - had carried Capitals to 264, an innings so authoritative it felt more to be admired than chased.
But it wasn't just another team on the opposite side. This is PBKS we're talking about. They're unbeaten this season so far. They razed down 262 in 2024 which is now the second-best chase in the IPL, and mowed down 196 this season against Mumbai Indians with 21 balls to spare. One could almost picture Shreyas echoing a Jacques Kallis-esque "they're 15 runs short" in the team huddle.
"I'm running out of words, honestly speaking, because first of all, it was scorching hot to come out there and field and keep seeing bowlers getting hit for fours and sixes," Shreyas said at the presentation. "You kind of lose your mindset. You don't know what to do in such situation, but I know how the wicket was. We were actually presuming that the wicket would be turning, but it wasn't much turn to offer. In my mind, I was just saying that whatever they get from here on, I think we just have to score one more run and see to it that we become victorious."
And PBKS did not approach it as a mountain to climb. It was like they continued from where they left off against Lucknow Super Giants and before that, Mumbai Indians, and… erm, pretty much all teams this season. There was one proven way for them to go about it: openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh must go hard from the start, trusting their big-hitting ability to lay the platform for the rest of the line-up.
History in T20s too has often pointed the same way in massive chases, which is to win the powerplay and open up the game, just like how PBKS made 93 in the powerplay in the 262 chase against KKR, or when South Africa put up 102 in their chase of 259 agsinst West Indies in 2023, or when Sunrisers Hyderabad blasted 83 in the 246 chase against PBKS in 2025.
Deep Dasgupta and Carlos Brathwaite on the PBKS skipper's knock
"We have chased around 220s, 225 and with two overs left, so the mindset was very much similar," Shreyas said. "Get as many runs as possible in the powerplay."
On the day, PBKS did exactly that. And they did it after spending a draining afternoon fielding during peak summer in Delhi. Arya set it up from the very first ball, swinging cleanly through the line to send the ball from Auqib Nabi soaring over midwicket.
What followed was the kind of video game type batting people have been talking about all IPL. Mukesh Kumar kept missing his length, and Prabhsimran and Arya made him pay. Axar Patel brought himself on early and he was given the same treatment. Nabi's next over spiralled out of control, with a sequence of blows that showed how quickly the game was going out of DC's control.
Prabhsimran tore into anything remotely off target, bringing up an 18-ball fifty with a crisp drive through cover off a low full toss from Mukesh. It was six boundaries in a row to close the over, sealing a 116-run powerplay - the second-highest in IPL history - and a statement of complete batting dominance. That he dominates pace bowlers is well known, but on the day, Prabhsimran was ruthless, striking at 328.57 against them.
"We were discussing that if we could score 80 in six overs, then we can easily score 100 runs if we use our brains," Arya told the broadcasters. "The pitch was very good and I had a belief that we will chase [this down]. Earlier I thought they would make 240 which will be chaseable, but it was 265, so I thought that if we do well in the powerplay, then we can easily chase."
By the time the field spread out, the asking rate was already at a zone where it no longer dictated terms. ESPNcricinfo's forecaster had DC's win probability at 85.17% before the start of the chase; it flipped to 65.35% in favour of PBKS after the powerplay. The openers had made it look like a straightforward chase from here for the rest of the line-up.
There was no phase where the tempo truly dipped but it briefly flickered back into something more human when PBKS lost three wickets - including that of the openers - for 19 runs in the middle. But with captain Shreyas still at the crease, there was never any real sense of panic. Probably also because of how composed he looked even while batting in brutal weather conditions.
With the run rate hovering at around 11 for most of the innings from there, Shreyas batted as if the equation was well within reach. Against Axar and Kuldeep Yadav - who had taken two wickets till then - he played cautiously but made sure dot balls didn't accumulate into pressure.
It was like he then thought he should make the most of the extra life he got, having been dropped on 28, flipping the script against Kuldeep in brutal fashion, hitting three sixes and a four in that over, with one of those sixes bringing up his 26-ball fifty. The 23 runs he took off that over brought down the required rate to below 10, and what followed that seemed like a mere formality for PBKS, with the chase getting done with an over to spare.
"Ricky [Ponting] sir said that if we play our best game, then we can easily chase," Arya said. "And he said we were the best team till now in the IPL so, if we played our best game, we can easily chase. He asked us to have self-belief."
DC had moments they could have tightened their grip but this game was more about PBKS' refusal to see any total as not gettable. Perhaps that is why in the end the celebration seemed muted. This is a kind of chase that bends the imagination of the possibilities in T20s but for PBKS, well, it was just another day.