Punjab Kings had enough runs. That was Shreyas Iyer’s blunt assessment after Rajasthan Royals pulled off a high-pressure six-wicket chase in Mullanpur on Tuesday, handing PBKS their first defeat of the IPL 2026 season.
PBKS posted 222/4 after being asked to bat first, with Marcus Stoinis’ late surge giving them the kind of total that usually puts the chasing team under severe scoreboard pressure. But Rajasthan stayed alive through the innings, first through Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal, and then through the finishing pair of Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey, who took the game away at the death.
Shreyas points to execution after PBKS lose control
“I thought the 224 on the board was a brilliant score,” Shreyas said after the match. “Kudos 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.”
Shreyas Iyer did not hide behind the conditions or the size of the ground. He made it clear that PBKS believed they had enough on the board, especially on a surface where the ball was not always coming on cleanly.
{{/usCountry}}Shreyas Iyer did not hide behind the conditions or the size of the ground. He made it clear that PBKS believed they had enough on the board, especially on a surface where the ball was not always coming on cleanly.
{{/usCountry}}The concern, instead, was execution with the ball. “I think we fell a bit short in our bowling in terms of execution,” he said. “We had planned to pull off slower ones, execute yorkers, I think we fell a bit short over there.”
PBKS had briefly dragged the match back through spin. Yuzvendra Chahal struck at important moments, while Harpreet Brar, playing his first game of the season, gave Shreyas control with a disciplined spell. But Rajasthan’s middle and lower-middle order refused to freeze. Ferreira and Dubey absorbed the pressure, then attacked the pace options when PBKS missed their lengths.
“They had a tremendous partnership in the middle, especially by Ferreira and Shubham Dube coming in and scoring those crucial runs at the end,” Shreyas said.
Asked whether the issue had been building within the bowling group, Shreyas Iyer chose his words carefully. He pointed to the modern T20 trend of batters attacking from ball one, but returned again to the same word, execution.
“This 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,” he said. “So it’s an arduous task for bowlers to come with a certain plan, but at the end of the day, I feel it’s all about execution.”
The defeat ended PBKS’ unbeaten start, but Shreyas insisted the larger campaign did not need panic. He acknowledged the quick turnaround and travel, but immediately refused to use fatigue as an excuse.
“We 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’t be the reason over here,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of days to refresh, go back to the drawing board and come back strong.”
Shreyas also highlighted Brar’s performance as a major positive. “Hats off to him, the way he kept his approach and his attitude throughout this game,” he said.
Notably, this was the team's last match in Mullanpur during IPL 2026. PBKS will now play their home games in Dharmashala. So, when asked what the change of venue would do for PBKS, Shreyas offered the simplest possible response.
“Nothing, just win.”