Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer blamed his team’s bowling and fielding after its fourth straight defeat, saying PBKS failed to defend a total he considered well above par on a challenging surface against Delhi Capitals on Monday.
PBKS went down by three wickets after DC chased 211 in 19 overs at the HPCA Stadium, registering the venue’s highest successful chase.
“I won’t beat around the bush, I’ll just say fielding and bowling again,” Iyer said after the match.
Punjab had posted 210 for five, powered by Priyansh Arya’s explosive 56 off 33 balls, featuring six sixes, and Iyer’s unbeaten 59 off 36 deliveries. Despite the strong total, aggressive half-centuries from David Miller (51 off 28) and DC skipper Axar Patel (56 off 30) helped Delhi overhaul the target comfortably.
“Absolutely, I feel that it was 30 runs more on this wicket considering how the ball was seaming and there was variable bounce,” Iyer said when asked if 210 was enough.
The PBKS captain revealed he considered introducing impact substitute Yuzvendra Chahal earlier but opted to trust the seamers because of the pitch conditions.
“There was absolutely a thought in my mind (on introducing Chahal), but the way ball was seaming and the way it was helping seamers, I think if we would have executed our line and length precisely, we could have been able to extract wickets, but unfortunately again, we didn’t.
“I always say that the hard length - short of a hard length - is the best ball, especially when a new batsman is coming in... We’ve been short of planning,” he added.
Published on May 12, 2026