According to Shreyas Iyer, Punjab Kings (PBKS) are having trouble in the middle order in the 2025 Indian Premier League, particularly at home in New Chandigarh, where they have played their season-ending match. This is because the surfaces have presented their hitters with a lot of challenges.
In their 20 overs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday, PBKS amassed 157 for 6; Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar displayed excellent death bowling in the final five overs, which yielded just 38. Shashank Singh, a fearsome finisher, failed to find his striking rhythm and failed to knock a single boundary in the final five overs.
They wouldn’t remember their innings with much nostalgia, but it wasn’t as difficult as it was in their last game at the location, as they defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by successfully defending 110.
“A lot of our batters like to go [for it] from ball one,” Shreyas remarked after PBKS lost to RCB by seven wickets. “If we are batting first, we are having trouble evaluating the wicket. That was the situation in the first game.
“If not, we haven’t been able to take advantage of the starts we’ve been receiving. Because [this] is an afternoon game, we were unable to set a total that we could defend because the wickets have been getting slower and slower. We were unable to capitalise, even throughout the middle portion when we believed we could defeat the bowlers.
Ricky Ponting, the head coach of PBKS, had similar ideas.
“Our batting performance was lacking. That’s the game’s bottom line. At the post-match press conference, he stated, “I think the wicket was a whole lot better than 157, where a lot of batsmen made starts [but didn’t] go on to make those big scores.” In T20 cricket, that is very important, especially for the players at the top of the order. That’s the distinction.
We weren’t good enough to build on a strong start, and Virat [Kohli] bats through tonight and leads his team home. We were 1 for 62 at the end of the powerplay, which is essentially where you want the game to be. You should expect a score of 180 or more right away, and if the middle order hits well, it may even reach 200. However, we lost wickets in clusters once more tonight, which has happened before in the competition.
“Their death bowling was superb, and I felt their spinners bowled brilliantly. The final four overs that Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and [Josh] Hazlewood bowled We still believed we would go to close to 180 during the second time out. However, we laboured to 157 because their death bowling was too superb. We weren’t good enough to pull off an unexpected victory as we did in the previous game here.
“On the back of three games in about five days, the boys need a bit of a freshen-up, time to get away, forget about this result, and make sure we focus on our next challenge, which is KKR down there [in Kolkata], which we know will be a big game for us” Ricky Ponting
One of their advantages, according to Shreyas, was their “great start” with the bat. In just 4.2 overs, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh amassed 42 runs. However, they continued to lose wickets in the middle overs despite some superb bowling from Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya as a result of their dismissals as they attempted to select boundaries.
Arya has set the record in each of the four innings after his century against CSK—22, 16, 22, 36—but hasn’t been able to get going. Prabhsimran, whose scores are 33, 13, 30, and 42, has a similar story.
Some middle-order batsmen must take the “bull by the horns.” Shreyas warned against anyone stifling their impulses when asked if the openers should slow down their approach.
“We keep talking about adapting to the wicket, but once the ball tends to get old it doesn’t skid off the wicket that well,” Shreyas stated. “They are both excellent stroke players, and it’s hard to control their impulses. They find it quite difficult to understand as well after you tell them that they must play according to the circumstances.
“If you watch other games, we’ve been getting off to incredibly strong starts. We need to take the bull by the horns and step up a few middle-order hitters.”
Iyer has discovered that he has an odd tendency to either go all in or be fired early.
In his last three games, including two against RCB, he has been out for single-digit scores. He was pressed for space and went out on Friday to slash Hazlewood. Shreyas was seen attempting to cross the long-on boundary on Sunday.
He remarked, “I’m in a great mind space,” “All I have to do is score ten runs before I can grab the lead. I don’t want to provide specific explanations about why I played. I also need to be able to move freely and not think about our previous activities. Simply take advantage of the starts we’ve been receiving and try to live in the moment as much as you can.”
After two days of hectic travel, PBKS will have a six-day break after playing RCB back-to-back. Additionally, the team’s time off before their match against KKR at Eden Gardens couldn’t have come at a better moment.
“It’s important that we go back to the drawing board, more importantly rejuvenate and refresh, because we’ve been constantly travelling since the last couple of days,” Iyer stated. “It’s important to assess our body as well and see to it we’re in the best shape possible before the next game.”
That match is on Saturday night at Eden Gardens versus the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
“We’ve got a nice, little break, about a six-day break now,” Ponting stated. “On the back of three games in about five days, the boys need a bit of a freshen-up, time to get away, forget about this result, and make sure we focus on our next challenge, which is KKR down there [in Kolkata], which we know will be a big game for us.”
India
