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Mullanpur. Punjab Kings fielded a different playing XI for the first time this season and promptly suffered their first defeat of the campaign. Rajasthan Royals broke the table-toppers’ seven-match unbeaten streak as they chased the highest score ever in New Chandigarh.

Punjab’s bowling has been sometimes good and sometimes bad this season, especially because they have mostly got favorable batting pitches. Captain Shreyas Iyer admitted that the team’s execution was below average, while he felt that the wicket was still “slow and sticky”.

After the match, Iyer said, “I think in terms of bowling, we lagged a little bit in execution. We planned a lot of slower balls, variations of pace and bowled yorkers. I think we lagged a little bit in that regard. And also, their partnership in the middle overs was tremendous, especially Ferreira and Shubham Dubey came in and scored those crucial runs at the end.” However, Iyer backed his bowlers, especially in a format where the margin for error is becoming less and less.

“Look, this is a format where I think a lot of players have changed their game, and when they come in, they start hitting shots from the very first ball.

Therefore, it is a difficult task for the bowlers to come up with a fixed plan. But ultimately, I think it all comes down to execution. If you have a definite plan, and you execute it well, you win. And today just wasn’t our day.”

Punjab bowling coach James Hopes described the defeat as a “reality check”, but insisted there was no need to panic after just one defeat. “It’s a reality check, and it’s exactly what it is,” Hopes said. “Yeah, we’re playing great.

We are winning matches consistently, and that is great; Everyone is happy, and the team atmosphere is also very good. One defeat means nothing; You cannot progress through the entire IPL without losing a match. Now the thing is that we have a few days to prepare ourselves again before playing against GT. We just have to get back to training in a day or two,

We have to try to overcome some of our shortcomings and work on creating the best possible team combination for the conditions and opposition in the next few matches.” Hopes also defended the decision to include Lockie Ferguson, who took no wickets for 57 runs in his four overs. The situation became worse when Arshdeep Singh took just 1 wicket for 68 runs, the second most expensive spell by any Punjab bowler in the history of the IPL. He said, “Lockie Ferguson, he’s no experiment.

He has just returned from paternity leave. He was present for the match in Delhi, and was fully prepared to play. He has just come back from playing the World Cup. He has come from playing a short series against South Africa. Therefore, taking Locky into the team was not an experiment. Locky was to join our team only when he was available to play; And now by playing continuously his performance will improve even more. He is a world-class bowler, and we all know that.

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