Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer added that PBKS’s first defeat of the Indian Premier League 2026 is a learning experience. He said that the team has performed well in high-scoring matches before, both while chasing and defending, and shared that this defeat as just an off day as well. However, PBKS stay at the top despite the loss, with 13 points after six wins as well.
“I feel that this is our first loss of the season, so it definitely teaches you a lot. And also, we’ve played a lot of games where we have chased 200 plus, and we have defended 200 plus. So this is just one of those games where things didn’t go our way, and we just have to push it aside. And I feel that in retrospect, many things could have happened, but I just want to stay positive going ahead and be optimistic in our approach,” Shreyas Iyer said after the match.
Put to bat first, PBKS posted 222/4 on the back of half-centuries from Marcus Stoinis (62* in 22 balls, with four boundaries and six sixes) and Prabhsimran Singh (59 in 44 balls, with six fours and a six). But during the chase, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (43 in 16 balls, with three fours and five sixes) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (51 in 27 balls, with seven fours and a six) added a 51-run stand.
Then, a fifth-wicket stand of 77 runs between Donovan Ferreira (52* in 26 balls, with six fours and three sixes) and Shubham Dubey (31* in 12 balls, with three fours and two sixes) sealed the deal with four balls left.
“I thought 224 on the board was a brilliant score. Kudos to the batsmen, the way they came up and went against the bowlers. I think it was an exceptional performance, especially on this wicket, which was a bit tacky and slow. And I think we fell a bit short in our bowling, in terms of execution. We had planned to bowl a lot of slower ones, pace off, yorkers. I think we fell a bit short over there. And also, they had a tremendous partnership in the middle, especially by Ferreira and Shubham Dubey coming in and scoring those crucial runs at the end,” he further added.
While talking about PBKS’s bowling in the 2026 IPL, he also said that despite having strategies in place, the bowlers couldn’t execute them well, and it was simply not their day as well.
“See, this is the format where I feel that a lot of players have changed their game, and when they come in, they go bang from ball one. So it’s an arduous task for bowlers to come up with a certain plan. But at the end of the day, I feel it’s all about execution. If you have a certain plan set, when you execute it well, you come out triumphant. And today it just wasn’t our day,” Shreyas Iyer concluded.
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