‘We have lost the battle but not the war’: PBKS captain Iyer not ready to drop guard despite Qualifier 1 thrashing

Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer is not ready to drop the guard despite his team suffering an eight-wicket loss at the hands of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur. The table toppers were a pale shadow of themselves in the first playoff game this season, getting all out on a mere 101 inside 15 overs. Though they had their moments in the second innings, the hosts failed to defend the total as RCB won the match and qualified for the final.

Punjab batted first on a tricky Mullanpur pitch, losing four wickets inside the Powerplay, including their captain, Iyer. RCB seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal and returning Josh Hazlewood all made light work of all PBKS run-getters before spinner Suyesh Sharma broke their back with three wickets in his first two overs.

Overseas all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Azmatullah Omarzai tried saving Punjab’s sinking ship but failed, as they got out cheaply in front of their home crowd. In the second innings, they picked two wickets but conceded the result inside 11 overs.

However, they are not out of the tournament yet; to finish inside the top two, they must win Qualifier 2, where they face the winner of the Eliminator between Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans.

“Not a day to forget, but got to go back to the drawing board. We lost a lot of wickets (in the first innings. There’s a lot to go back and study on,” Iyer reflected on his side’s eight-wicket loss against RCB.

He, however, backed his planning for this clash but admitted that failed execution led to this outcome, which they need to work on before the next game.

“I am not doubting my decisions, to be honest. Whatever we did in terms of planning, outside of the ground whatever (planning) we did, I think it was on point. Just that we couldn’t execute it on the field,” Iyer continued.

“Can’t even blame the bowlers, as it was a low total to defend. We’ve got to work on our batting, especially on this wicket. In all the games we have played here, there has been some variable bounce.”

He concluded by saying, “We can’t give such reasons because we are professionals at the end of the day, and we have to bat according to the situation and we have to live up to it.”