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Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 5 lost their first match under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Rajasthan Royals posted a total of 205/4 and the hosts suffered a top-order collapse. PBKS posted 155/9 and lost the match by 50 runs. After the match, PBKS' spin bowling coach Sunil Joshi felt that they underutilised spinners as RR became the first team to cross the 200-run mark at the venue this season.
"We have a long season ahead. I think we missed the trick we could have bowled a couple of more overs with spin, with Maxi [Glenn Maxwell] and Chahal [Yuzvendra Chahal]. So we missed the trick, and going forward, we will look into it," Joshi said.
PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer introduced Yuzvendra Chahal just after the powerplay overs. Chahal conceded nine runs in the first over against his former franchise. He was hit by RR skipper Sanju Samson for a boundary. In his next over, he did not concede a boundary off the bat but bowled a wide that beat the wicketkeeper Prabhsimran Singh and went for a boundary.
In his third over, Chahal was attacked by Yashasvi Jaiswal who him for four a four and six. He was not given a fourth over. On the other hand, Glenn Maxwell bowled just one over in the powerplay overs. He conceded six runs but did not bowl another over in the innings despite Jaiswal batting till 14th over. Marcus Stoinis turned out to be PBKS' most expensive bowler as he conceded 48 runs.
On the other hand, RR used three spinners. Maheesh Theekshana bowled his full quota of four overs, conceded 26 runs and claimed two wickets. Left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya conceded 21 runs from two overs but dismissed Prabhsimran. Wanindu Hasaranga was expensive as well, conceding 36 runs from three overs but got the crucial wicket of Nehal Wadhera who scored a half-century.
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Iyer on PBKS' defeat
After the defeat, Iyer said that the target was 20-25 runs over what should have been. He did not seem fazed by the defeat and relieved that the loss came early in the season as a wake-up call.
"I thought that we would be conceding around 180-185 -- that would have been a great total to chase. We gave away a few extra runs, were not able to execute according to our plans. Glad that it (the defeat) happened at the start of the season," Iyer said at the post-match presentation.
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"This is just the third match, you need a slight hiccup at the start to wake you up and glad that it happened right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and come back strong next game," he added.
Despite the defeat, PBKS are fourth on the points table. Their net run rate (NRR) took a hit after the defeat at home.
