Punjab Kings started their IPL 2025 campaign with back-to-back wins against Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. They suffered their first defeat of the season against Rajasthan Royals in Mullanpur on Saturday (April 5) and skipper Shreyas Iyer was glad the early setback could work as a "wake-up" call for the team.
Asked to bat first, RR posted 205/4 on the board, courtesy of Yashasvi Jaiswal's 45-ball 67 and Riyan Parag's 43* off 25 balls.
In reply, PBKS faltered under pressure, managing only 155/9 in 20 overs as their homecoming turned sour.
"I thought that we would be conceding around 180-185 that would have been a great total to chase. We gave away a few extra runs, were not able to execute according to our plans. Glad that it happened at the start of the season," Iyer said at the post-match presentation.
The loss ended Iyer's eight-match winning streak as captain across two franchises and two seasons Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 and PBKS this season. Only Gautam Gambhir, with 10 wins on the bounce, has more victories as IPL skipper.
"This is just the third match, you need a slight hiccup at the start to wake you up and glad that it happened right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and come back strong next game," said Iyer, who guided KKR to IPL 2024 triumph.
Iyer admitted there were plenty of learnings from the defeat, particularly in the bowling and batting departments.
"Many things to learn from this game. Today there was no dew. We cannot be blaming that. We need to go back to the drawing board and see the videos of where we were not able to execute with the bowling.
"In the batting, we could be focusing on building partnerships. We also lost back-to-back wickets. It is not easy for a new batter to get going."
He also lauded young Nehal Wadhera for his explosive half-century (62 off 41) under pressure, which kept PBKS in the hunt after they were reduced to 43/4 in the powerplay.
"Phenomenal batting under pressure. He took some time, he was able to analyse and was able to charge on the loose balls,” the PBKS captain stated.
Sharing his thoughts on the pitch, Iyer said: "It was a decent pitch to bat on, it was holding a bit. Were trying to hit the deck and not give them much pace. We could have built a few partnerships and taken it a little slow, rather than over-attacking."
(With PTI Inputs)
