'Paani pilata hai': Virat Kohli surprised to see Musheer Khan as impact player amidst Punjab Kings' batting collapse; watch viral video

Punjab Kings (PBKS) finished at the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 points table and qualified for playoffs for the first time in 11 years. PBKS were in red-hot form with the bat but in Qualifier 1 at home, they suffered a collapse. The PBKS team management also made a surprising move when they sent Musheer Khan to bat at no.8 in the ninth over of the innings amidst collapse. The move even surprised Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) former captain Virat Kohli. He was seen signalling to his teammate that he was a waterboy earlier in the innings. 

The video of Kohli standing at the slips and signalling about Musheer has gone viral on social media. 

Why Musheer was preferred over Shedge?

PBKS had to make changes to their strategy as their batting faltered. Ideally, they wanted leg-spinner Praveen Dubey to be the impact player in Yuzvendra Chahal's absence. However, Musheer had not even made his IPL debut. Another batter who could have been sent ahead of Musheer was Suryansh Shedge. 

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However, Shedge is yet to showcase his talent as he has managed to score just five runs from three innings. Also, Shedge is a finisher and PBKS needed someone to stabilise the innings. PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting has been impressed by Musheer and he is not a hitter like Shedge. That could have been the reason why Musheer was sent in the 20-year-old to bat. 

Musheer fails to score on debut

The move did not work as Musheer got out lbw to leg-spinner Suyash Sharma trying to play a sweep shot. He could not score a single run on his IPL debut after playing three deliveries. PBKS found themselves struggling for 60/7 in the ninth over. Marcus Stoinis could not play for long either and was knocked over by Suyash for a 17-ball 26. Azmatullah Omarzai's 12-ball 18 cameo helped PBKS cross the 100-run mark. In the 15th over, Josh Hazlewood got his third wicket and PBKS were bowled out for 101.

In the run chase, Phil Salt's unbeaten 27-ball 56 led RCB to an eight-wicket win with 10 overs to spare. Musheer could not do much with the bat but he got the wicket of Mayank Agarwal. From his two overs, 27 runs were scored.

PBKS will now go up against the winner of Eliminator between Gujarat Titans (GT) and Mumbai Indians (GT). The Qualifier 2 will be played on June 1.