Punjab Kings began the second half of IPL 2026 with the look of a franchise ready to press its advantage hard. When their batters were in rhythm, even shaky bowling nights felt survivable; their top order rarely allowed rivals to settle, and their chase plans carried a sense of inevitability. At Mullanpur, their routine also appeared familiar enough to turn pressure into momentum. That rhythm, however, has been disrupted\u2014Punjab are now stuck in a run that has exposed how quickly their margin has shrunk.<\/p>\n
Punjab have suffered five straight defeats in completed matches, and the manner of those losses has not followed one single blueprint. They were beaten after scoring 222 against the Rajasthan Royals. They were also overhauled after posting 202 versus Sunrisers Hyderabad, and again after making 210 against Delhi Capitals. Their most recent setbacks continued the theme: Punjab set a total of 200 against Mumbai Indians and still lost. In other words, the side can still score heavily, but it is no longer able to control the game once the scoreboard has been climbed.<\/p>\n
This five-match slump is not simply a \u201cbad week\u201d in numbers. Earlier in the season, Punjab looked like they were manufacturing dominance. In their first six completed fixtures, they won all of them. They averaged 219.2 runs at the top end with the bat and conceded 208.2 overall\u2014figures that underlined their high-scoring approach. Even then, the ceiling was so high that it carried risk: when the batting went off-script, the bowling still had to find a way to hold firm.<\/p>\n
That is where the change has been sharpest. In the next block of five matches, Punjab averaged 199.4 runs while conceding 210.2. Their batting output fell by nearly 20 runs per game. Their bowling did not step up enough to absorb that drop. As a result, the earlier template\u2014built on extreme batting returns\u2014has become harder to sustain. A team can lose one game after scoring around 200 because of dew, conditions, or an opponent\u2019s brilliant chase. Punjab have now lost four of their last five games after crossing the 200 mark or coming very close to it. That recurring outcome suggests the totals are no longer forcing the match into Punjab\u2019s preferred shape.<\/p>\n
Punjab\u2019s early wins were powered by dominance in the first six overs. Across their first six completed matches, they averaged 76 runs in the opening powerplay, moving at 12.61 per over. They cleared the ropes 5.7 times per powerplay and lost only 0.8 wickets per game in that phase. Those numbers created immediate control: opponents were pushed towards defensive field placements early, spinners arrived under pressure, and once the fielding side had already been damaged, middle-over match-ups became easier.<\/p>\n
In the last five completed matches, the powerplay picture has changed dramatically. Punjab\u2019s powerplay average has dropped to 56.8, and their run rate has slipped to 9.26. Six-hitting has fallen from 5.7 per powerplay to 2.2. Even wickets in the phase have become heavier, doubling to 1.6. This is the biggest batting shift within the slump.<\/p>\n
A powerplay scoring rate of 56 runs is not automatically disastrous in T20 cricket. The issue is that it represents a clear departure from Punjab\u2019s winning blueprint. Their batting was designed to detonate early and then expand the innings as it moved forward. When the opening burst softens, the rest of the order begins to face a different contest: middle overs shift towards stabilising rather than accelerating, and finishers have to repair before they can inflate the score. Punjab can still reach 200, but the innings arrives with less authority than it did in their earlier run.<\/p>\n
Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, and Shreyas Iyer were central to Punjab\u2019s surge in the first half. Their decline over the last five matches helps explain why Punjab\u2019s 200-plus scores have started to feel less secure.<\/p>\n
In Arya\u2019s case, the batting remains aggressive, but it no longer bends games as dramatically as it once did. Prabhsimran\u2019s drop is even sharper. For Iyer, the effect is not only about his own scoring\u2014it is about what he provides to the innings. He shapes the chase after the openers. When he strikes near 180, Punjab can keep the assault alive even if a wicket falls. When his pace is closer to 130, the innings becomes more reliant on late acceleration from the back end.<\/p>\n
Cooper Connolly has held up better than the others during this stretch. Marcus Stoinis and Suryansh Shedge have also contributed finishing power. Still, Punjab\u2019s batting has moved away from the chain-reaction style they displayed earlier. In the early phase, one part of the innings fed the next. Now, too often, Punjab have needed one segment of batting to rescue what came before it. The totals can still be respectable, but on many flat IPL surfaces, respectable does not always translate into winning.<\/p>\n
Punjab\u2019s middle-overs batting has also softened. In the first six completed games, they averaged 95.8 runs per match in that phase; in the last five, it has dropped to 79.6. Their run rate in the same segment has fallen from 10.58 to 8.84.<\/p>\n
This is where the slowdown becomes more costly than the final total alone suggests. Punjab\u2019s powerplay dip has pushed more pressure into overs seven to fifteen, but that period has not delivered the sustained scoring they previously managed. The result is that the innings increasingly depends on the death overs to do too much work.<\/p>\n
The last five matches show Punjab still have enough hitting to finish around the 200 mark. Yet the way they arrive there is less forceful. A score of 200 built through late salvage does not carry the same match pressure as a 220 constructed through continuous dominance. Opponents can sense the difference, and they chase with a different mindset\u2014particularly when they believe the bowling will be attackable late.<\/p>\n
Punjab\u2019s death bowling has shifted from merely expensive to genuinely damaging. In their first six completed matches, they conceded 54 runs per match at the death phase, with an economy rate of 10.68. They also took roughly two wickets per game in that period. In the last five, the concession has risen to 63.2 runs per match at the death, and the economy has climbed to 13.64. Wickets in the phase have dropped to 1.2 per game, while sixes conceded have increased from three per match to five.<\/p>\n
That combination helps explain why Punjab\u2019s 200-plus totals are no longer holding. They are not consistently closing overs. They are not routinely removing set batters. They are not landing enough high-value deliveries under pressure. The wide yorker, the hard length into the pitch, the slower ball outside the hitting arc, and the short-boundary strategy have not looked stable enough during this losing run.<\/p>\n
The defeats against Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians at Dharamsala were particularly revealing. Punjab scored 210 and 200 in those matches, yet they conceded 216 and 205 respectively. Those totals were not beyond defending. The vulnerability emerged because Punjab\u2019s final five overs kept opening the door for the opposition.<\/p>\n
Venue changes can certainly influence outcomes, and Dharamsala has amplified Punjab\u2019s weaknesses more than Mullanpur ever did. Punjab\u2019s home record in Mullanpur had been strong across four matches: they won three, scored 216 per game, and conceded 202.2 on average. Their bowling was not flawless, but they understood the venue rhythm, and their batting gave them enough margin.<\/p>\n
In Dharamsala, though, Punjab scored 210 and 200 across two matches and lost both. The batting did not collapse, but the bowling lost its grip. The death-overs contrast is stark. At Mullanpur, Punjab conceded 49.5 runs per match in the death phase; in Dharamsala, that number rose to 74.5. Their death-phase economy jumped from 10.07 to 16.56. Sixes conceded at the death also climbed from three per match to 7.5.<\/p>\n
Dharamsala can punish missed lengths brutally. Once batters settle, the ball travels quickly. Defensive bowling demands precision, and Punjab have not consistently found it there. Their death bowlers have missed too often into hitting zones, giving the opposition match-winning overs instead of manageable finishes.<\/p>\n
That venue shift did not create the slump from nothing. Punjab had already lost at Mullanpur, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad before Dharamsala deepened the slide. Still, Dharamsala has acted as an accelerant on a weakness that was already showing: Punjab\u2019s end-overs control is not strong enough when the surface rewards clean striking.<\/p>\n
There is another tactical layer to Punjab\u2019s trouble. Their early success was heavily chase-driven. In their first six completed matches, they chased in five and won all five. Chasing suited their batting personality: the target gave their aggression structure, the openers understood exactly how hard they needed to go, and the middle order could take calculated risks around a visible equation. Their hitters also had a clear finishing line.<\/p>\n
During the losing run, Punjab have often been setting totals instead. That changes the pressure. Batters know the bowling has been leaking runs, so even a 200 may not feel like it will be enough. This can distort decision-making. The innings starts hunting for 220 from situations where 205 should be competitive. Batters take an extra risk in the middle overs, while finishers come in with the burden of building insurance runs. The innings becomes less about optimal batting and more about compensating for bowling insecurity.<\/p>\n
That is a dangerous position for a T20 side. Once hitters stop believing the bowlers will defend par-plus totals, the tempo can shift across the entire batting unit.<\/p>\n
Punjab have still found wickets in the last five matches. Arshdeep Singh has taken six wickets in that span, while Yuzvendra Chahal has five. The problem is not a total failure to take wickets\u2014it is control around those wickets. Punjab\u2019s support bowling has been expensive, and Marco Jansen\u2019s economy in the last five matches above 12 reflects how the wider attack has been affected. The bowling has not created enough quiet overs, not formed enough pressure-building partnerships, and not prevented opposition batters from finding recovery phases.<\/p>\n
Punjab need clarity at the death more than cosmetic change. The questions are practical and urgent: who owns the 17th over, who delivers the 19th, which bowler executes the wide-line plan, who attacks the pitch, which match-up is protected, which batter is denied pace, and which boundary Punjab are willing to concede. Right now, those answers have not looked settled enough.<\/p>\n
A death-bowling group can survive bad balls if the plan surrounding them is strong. Punjab\u2019s issue is that the bad balls have arrived with visible uncertainty. That encourages chasing sides to keep swinging, which turns small gaps into big runs.<\/p>\n
Punjab\u2019s five-match slump can be traced to three closely linked causes.<\/p>\n
The top order has slowed. Punjab\u2019s powerplay has slipped from elite destruction to ordinary aggression by their own standards.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The middle overs have dragged. After a first wicket or after the first slowdown, the innings no longer sustains the same level of pressure.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The death overs have leaked. Punjab have conceded too many late runs, particularly in Dharamsala, where the venue has magnified every missed length.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
The home venue change is a legitimate factor: Dharamsala has clearly made Punjab\u2019s end-overs weakness more expensive. But it is not the root problem. Punjab\u2019s early-season dominance was powered by excess in the batting. The bowling flaws were present even then, but the batting kept covering for them. Once the top order cooled and the middle overs became slower, those flaws became far harder to hide.<\/p>\n
Punjab are not broken\u2014they are simply exposed. That is a different sort of challenge: broken teams search for form, while exposed teams must fix their method before better opponents begin targeting the same vulnerability night after night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Punjab Kings began the second half of IPL 2026 with the look of a franchise ready to press its advantage hard. When their batters were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Punjab Kings IPL 2026: Mullanpur Form & Turnaround News","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Punjab Kings\u2019 IPL 2026 turnaround at Mullanpur hit a snag\u2014find out what changed in form, tactics, and momentum as their run tightens.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n