The mighty have finally fallen and it took another giant to bring them down. Punjab Kings enjoyed a dream start to their Indian Premier League campaign in 2026, going unbeaten in their opening seven matches until their defeat by Rajasthan Royals in Mullanpur on Tuesday.
After setting a daunting target of 223 for Rajasthan Royals, Marcus Stoinis’ late lightning looked like another routine win for PBKS. However, RR relied on their own lower middle order and emerged surprise winners.
PBKS vs RR: MAIN DATA | SCORECARD
But was this defeat just a case of the law of averages catching up with PBKS, or are there more troubling signs beneath the surface? In an era of flat pitches and batting blitzkriegs, pitchers often became an afterthought. However, captain Shreyas Iyer believes that given the conditions in Mullanpur his bowlers fell short in execution.
PBKS had batted first only once before this season, against Lucknow Super Giants at the same venue. On that occasion, they took the out-of-form LSG batting unit out of the equation by sending a mammoth 254. However, against Sooryavanshi et al. that was always likely to be more challenging, especially considering Punjab’s poor bowling numbers this season.
“We lacked execution with the ball,” Iyer said after the match against RR on April 28. “We were planning to go slow and bowl yorkers. I think we fell short there.
IS BOWLING THE PROBLEM?
However, fast-bowling coach James Hopes he believes that the conditions at Mullanpur were too flat and that it would be unfair to blame the pitchers. He pointed out that the pitch offered some assistance to the spinners, with Yuzvendra Chahal and Harpreet Brar bowling well in the middle overs.
“Yeah, we’re giving up runs, but I think when we had pitches that worked for us, we did well,” Hopes said in the postgame press conference. “I’m not saying the wicket doesn’t suit our bowling attack – the wicket is good but it’s flat and the ball flies around. We had a bit of a different look tonight and our two spinners played very well.”
Hopes acknowledged there were areas his side needed to clean up but claimed it would be difficult to single out the bowlers given the nature of the modern game. “It’s tough for the fast bowlers, if we get the conditions right and the ball swings it will be fine.”
PBKS have conceded five totals of over 200 this IPL season, along with one score of 195 in seven completed innings. Only Mumbai Indians have conceded more than their 10.5 runs per over and no team comes close to PBKS’s 41.72 runs per wicket conceded across their 36 scalps. Their fast bowler Arshdeep Singh is having his worst season with the ball in the IPL, both in terms of economy and average.
Now heading for two more games before making it three games in a row at their second home in Dharamsala, PBKS will consider this a one-off setback and get back to winning ways.
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Published on:
29 Apr 2026 11:17 IST
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