Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer admitted that they lost the match in the powerplay after suffering a 23-run defeat against RCB in their IPL 2026 clash in Dharamshala on Sunday. Chasing a massive target of 223, Punjab Kings lost wickets early as Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed cheaply inside the first three overs. The early collapse left them struggling at 19/3 as well. However, they eventually finished at 199/8 on the back of aggressive knocks from Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis.

“Obviously, they got off to a great start and then started taking on the bowlers right after the power play. I think getting to 222 was a commendable performance, and we weren’t able to take wickets in the bowling that much, but yeah, I think the match was lost in the powerplay,” Iyer said after the game. “Absolutely. We were three down, and the majority of our run scorers were Prabhsimran and Priyansh. The starts they used to give us in the power play, obviously, we couldn’t get this time, and also me coming in and getting out early.”

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“Really disappointed, but commendable performance by Shashank and Stoinis, and also a few others in the middle. I think we were up there with almost 10 and over, but yeah, fell short. Tremendous bowling by Bhuvi and Hazlewood,” he further added.

“No, definitely. I’m always positive irrespective of the results. It doesn’t dictate how my personality is, and I always approach with a strong attitude,” he said. “I’m not someone who dwells too much in the past. This is over, this is gone. Tomorrow again I’m going to see the sunrise, and there’s always light at the end of the tunnel,” he concluded.