Punjab Kings (PBKS) suffered their first defeat of IPL 2026 on Tuesday (April 28), losing to Rajasthan Royals (RR) by six wickets in Mullanpur.

Despite Marcus Stoinis’ unbeaten 62 (22 balls) propelling PBKS to a formidable total of 222/4, RR chased it down with four deliveries to spare, largely due to the opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal (51 off 27) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (43 off 16) setting the tone and a 77-run stand between Donovan Ferreira (52* off 26) and Shubham Dubey (31* off 12).

Speaking during the post-match presentation, PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer attributed the loss to poor bowling execution. He noted a failure to execute planned slowers and yorkers, allowing a match-defining partnership between Ferreira and Dubey.

"I thought 224 on the board was a brilliant score. Kudos to the batsmen, 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. And I think we fell a bit short in our bowling, in terms of execution. We had planned to bowl a lot of slower ones, pace off, yorkers. I think we fell a bit short over there. And also, they had tremendous partnership in the middle, especially by Ferreira and Shubham Dubey coming in and scoring those crucial runs at the end,” Iyer said.

Shreyas highlighted that modern T20 requires bowlers to execute plans perfectly against aggressive batters from ball one, admitting it was not their day.

“See, 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. 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. If you have a certain plan set, when you execute it well, you come out triumphs. And today it just wasn't our day,” he added.

Shreyas Iyer mentioned the team felt fatigued due to recent travel and playing back-to-back games, though he did not use it as an excuse for the loss.

“I think it's important that we stick to the things that we've been doing, the routines and the processes that we've been following throughout. 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. But we've got couple of days to refresh, go back to the drawing board and come back strong,” he remarked.

Talking about the learnings from this defeat, Iyer stated: “Well, absolutely. I feel that this is our first loss of the season, so it definitely teaches you a lot. And also, we've played a lot of games where we have chased 200-plus, we have defended 200-plus. So this is just one of those games where things didn't go our way and we just have to push it aside. And I feel that in retrospect, many things could have happened, but I just want to stay positive going ahead and be optimistic in our approach.”

Looking at the positives, he praised Harpreet Brar as the best bowler of the game. “Yes, absolutely. I felt that it was difficult to score off the spinners because it was holding a bit and it was offering them a little bit of turn as well. Not that much, but a little bit. But Harpreet Brar, yes, coming in his first game, showing that kind of personality where he just gives 25 runs off four balls [overs] and turning out to be the best bowler in the team. I think hats off to him, the way he kept his approach and his attitude throughout.”

With the team moving to their next home venue in Dharamsala, Iyer maintained an optimistic outlook. “Nothing, just win (smiles)," Shreyas Iyer concluded.