When it takes the field against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday to extend its Playoffs bid, Punjab Kings will be confronted with a puzzle that it has not cracked as yet.
Since returning to the HPCA (Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association) Stadium in Dharamsala in 2023, Punjab has just one win from seven games. The high altitude, the small ground dimensions, the evening dew, and the nature of surfaces here have made the side look out of its depth.
Take the first two games at the venue this season, where the toss and the drastically different nature of the pitch had huge implications.
Against Delhi Capitals, PBKS was inserted in on a pitch where the ball was zipping through. Tested by these elements for the first time, PBKS did fairly well to breach 200.
However, due to the nature of the surface and heavy dew, Yuzvendra Chahal, its only frontline spinner, did not bowl a single delivery. DC did not use its spinners either. But the idea of a home venue, where a team can shield its flaws and back its strengths, or at least is supposed to, was defeated when PBKS had to rely entirely on its under-fire pace attack.
Conditions at Dharamsala prevented Yuzvendra Chahal from bowling against Delhi Capitals. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Conditions at Dharamsala prevented Yuzvendra Chahal from bowling against Delhi Capitals. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
In the second game, the pitch was unrecognisable from the previous one. Mumbai Indians’ pacers used cross-seamed deliveries, targeted the back-of-a-length region, and bowled into the surface to extract the most out of what was a tacky surface. And Punjab, asked to bat first, bore the brunt.
“If you have seen, the wicket looks different [from the last game]. Tomorrow, the wicket will look different. It’s very difficult to assess what is going to happen. But yes, looking at the weather conditions, looking at the ground, and the size of the ground, there are some things that we have discussed today that we need to get into play,” assistant bowling coach Trevor Gonsalves had said before the MI game.
This grip off the surface did bring Chahal into play this time. He picked Rohit Sharma and went for just 12 runs in his first three overs. But the dew flipped the match again in the final 10 overs. The ball was coming on to the bat better, and MI scaled the 201-run target by getting nearly 80 runs in the final five overs. Chahal conceded 22 runs in his final over.
Home is where the trouble is
Historically, Punjab has been abysmal at home. Through the 2023 and 2024 seasons, it won just two games out of the combined 14. Across the 18 seasons of IPL, Punjab Kings’ win-loss record at home stands at 0.916. Among active teams, only Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals have fared worse.
But this season marked a shift where Punjab won three out of its first four games at home. At New Chandigarh, it found conditions that ideally suited its flamboyant batting order, while also leaving enough for its bowlers to squeeze out, especially its spinners.
The tweakers have averaged 22 at the New Chandigarh Stadium while conceding less than eight an over, much better than the pacers who have an average close to 30 and an economy rate upwards of nine.
But having to adjust to the high altitude of Dharamsala cuts out any real advantage that a home ground can hold. By the time the team figures out a combination that works, say over two or three games, the Dharamsala leg is already over.
“I think the altitude does play some role. Perhaps it might favour us because we’ve been here longer and had a longer time to acclimatise and adapt to the conditions. Historically, it hasn’t been the best ground for us. The wicket in the last match was different to the wicket in the first game. I don’t know what we’re going to expect tomorrow.
“The ball travels a bit faster. The guys have to maybe feel it differently. How does that translate into physical performance? Again, I always get back to the fact that cricket is a skill-based game. Those who can adapt to the conditions quicker [do better]. It’s not so much a physical thing, but it’s just a skill and quick-to-adapt type of thing,” Andrew Leipus, PBKS’s head of sports science, said on the eve of the RCB game.
The Kings lost two back-to-back games on the road, to the Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Still leading the standings at that point, the ideal scenario would have been returning to the comforts of a venue it had a grasp of.
Instead, in Dharamsala, it’s been left discombobulated, now on a five-game losing run and facing table-topper and defending champion RCB to salvage its season. Another lapse in using the conditions will be curtains on its hopes of qualifying.
Published on May 17, 2026