Shreyas Iyer was blunt in his post-match assessment: Punjab Kings had posted enough runs. Even so, Rajasthan Royals completed a tense six-wicket chase at Mullanpur on Tuesday, handing PBKS their first loss of the IPL 2026 campaign. PBKS finished on 222\/4 after being put into bat first, buoyed by a late surge from Marcus Stoinis that helped them reach a score capable of tightening the screws on any side chasing. Rajasthan\u2019s response, however, kept the chase alive from the first innings phase through to the closing overs, with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal doing the early work before the finishing duo of Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey took control at the death.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the match, Iyer stressed that the total should have been more than competitive. \u201cI thought the 224 on the board was a brilliant score,\u201d he said. \u201cKudos to the batters, the way they came up, and they went against the bowlers. I think it was an exceptional performance, especially on this wicket, which was a bit tacky and slow.\u201d In other words, the conditions and the dimensions of the venue were not where PBKS felt they fell short. Iyer made it clear the belief inside the camp was that the batting effort had created a platform that could carry them to the finish on a surface that didn\u2019t always allow the ball to skid through cleanly.<\/p>\n
The real issue, in Iyer\u2019s view, arrived when PBKS had to defend. \u201cI think we fell a bit short in our bowling in terms of execution,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had planned to pull off slower ones, execute yorkers, I think we fell a bit short over there.\u201d While PBKS did manage brief periods of control during the chase through spin, key wickets and moments slipped away when Rajasthan needed them least.<\/p>\n
Yuzvendra Chahal struck at crucial junctures, and Harpreet Brar\u2014playing his first match of the season\u2014also made an impact with a disciplined spell that helped PBKS regain command. But Rajasthan\u2019s middle order and the lower-middle order refused to freeze. Ferreira and Dubey absorbed the pressure, then shifted gears once PBKS missed their lengths, attacking the pace options and turning the final stretch into a chase that gradually moved beyond reach for the defending side. Iyer singled out the partnership as the turning point. \u201cThey had a tremendous partnership in the middle, especially by Ferreira and Shubham Dube coming in and scoring those crucial runs at the end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When asked whether bowling concerns were something that had been building, Iyer chose his language carefully, though his message stayed consistent. He referenced how T20 cricket has evolved, with batters increasingly taking the game to bowlers from the very first ball they face. \u201cThis is the format where I feel that a lot of players have changed their game, and when they come in, they go bang from ball one,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s an arduous task for bowlers to come with a certain plan, but at the end of the day, I feel it\u2019s all about execution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the end of PBKS\u2019 unbeaten run, Iyer urged against any sense of immediate panic. He acknowledged the speed of scheduling and the travel that followed, but he did not allow fatigue to become an excuse. \u201cWe had a match, we had to travel and then come and play another game. So I think the body was also a bit fatigued, but that can\u2019t be the reason over here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a couple of days to refresh, go back to the drawing board and come back strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
One clear positive for PBKS, in Iyer\u2019s eyes, was Brar\u2019s outing. \u201cHats off to him, the way he kept his approach and his attitude throughout this game,\u201d he said. The defeat also came at a specific logistical moment for the franchise, with this being PBKS\u2019 final match in Mullanpur during IPL 2026. The team will now shift to Dharmashala for their upcoming home fixtures, and when Iyer was asked what the change of venue would mean, he offered a straightforward answer. \u201cNothing, just win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shreyas Iyer was blunt in his post-match assessment: Punjab Kings had posted enough runs. Even so, Rajasthan Royals completed a tense six-wicket chase at Mullanpur…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: Shreyas Iyer on PBKS Bowling Errors vs RR","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Shreyas Iyer pinpoints PBKS bowling mistakes after Rajasthan\u2019s tense six-wicket win in IPL 2026, as PBKS suffer their first defeat of the season.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n