Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer pointed out their problem in the ongoing IPL 2025. He believes that the team has failed to study the wicket while batting first and that played a role in their defeat to RCB in Mullanpur.
Punjab Kings suffered a seven-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Mullanpur in the ongoing IPL 2025. They have had a poor track record at home and against RCB, the trend continued as the batters once again failed to live up to expectations. Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya seemed to be in good touch, but after their dismissals, things changed drastically as Punjab posted only 157 runs on the board.
When it came to the chase, star batter Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal stitched a stunning partnership to win the game for Bengaluru. Both cricketers scored a half-century each and with that, Bengaluru registered their fifth win of the season. Meanwhile, after the game, PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer reflected on the defeat, stating that they are failing to read the pitch whenever they bat first. The 30-year-old also mentioned of not being able to capitalise on starts.
โIf you see, a majority of our batters like to go from ball one. We’re finding it difficult to assess the wicket if we’re batting first. That has been the scenario from match one. Otherwise, we’ve not been able to capitalise on the starts we’ve been getting. It’s just that the wickets have been getting slower and slower, [this] being an afternoon game, we weren’t able to set a total we could defend. Even in the middle phase when we thought we could take on the bowlers, we couldn’t capitalise,โ Iyer said.
Punjab also have won five out of eight matches and are fourth on the points table. They have played their final home game in Mullanpur as their next home games will be played in Dharamshala. They donโt have a good track record in Mullanpur and Dharamshala will be a welcoming change. However, the team will next travel to Kolkata to play the defending champions on April 26.