Shreyas Iyer admits PBKS bowling fell short on execution after first defeat

Punjab Kings fielded a different Playing XII for the first time this season and promptly suffered their first defeat of the campaign, with Rajasthan Royals chasing down the highest total in New Chandigarh to end a seven-match unbeaten run for the table-toppers.

PBKS's bowling has blown hot and cold this season, not least because of the batting-friendly surfaces they have largely encountered, and captain Shreyas Iyer admitted the side were @L0$ on what he felt was still a "slow and tacky" wicket.

"I think we fell a bit short in our bowling, in terms of execution," Iyer said after the match. "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, though, backed his bowlers in a format where margins for error continue to shrink. "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 triumphant. And today it just wasn't our day."

PBKS bowling coach James Hopes termed the loss a "reality check" but insisted there was no reason for panic after just one setback.

"It's a reality check, and that's exactly what it is," Hopes said. "Yeah, we're flying. We've been winning games, and it's great, and everyone's happy, and it's still a great environment. One loss, you're not going to go through the IPL and not lose a game. Now it's about we have a few days to regroup before we play GT, and it's about just getting back to work in a couple of days at training and trying to iron out some kinks, trying to work through the best combination for the conditions we're going to get and the opposition we're going to get in the next couple of games."

Hopes also defended the inclusion of Lockie Ferguson, who returned figures of 0 for 57 in his four overs. It did not help that Arshdeep Singh finished with 1 for 68, the second-most expensive spell by a PBKS bowler in IPL history.

"Lockie Ferguson, he's not an experiment," Hopes said. "He's pretty much just come from paternity leave. He was in Delhi for the game, and he's ready to go. He's coming off the World Cup. He's coming off a short series against South Africa. So, Lockie was not an experiment. Lockie was just coming into our team whenever he was going to be available to play, and now he's going to be better for the run. He's a world-class bowler, and we all know that.

"It was really good to see Lockie Ferguson get into the tournament. It may not have been his night, but he was going to get in the tournament at some point, so we pulled the trigger and did it."

The former Australia allrounder reiterated that adaptability over a two-month tournament would define the contenders and maintained PBKS remained well placed despite the stumble.

"I think the team that adapts the best across the couple of months of the IPL will normally end up being in one of the finals at the end of the IPL. I think you see RCB are very good at adjusting to conditions now. We're very good at adjusting to conditions as well. What we've copped outside of maybe one or two games is very batter-friendly conditions, and we think that's probably going to continue for our next five games. So, yes, we've just got to keep working away, working on our skills, working on our execution at the end, and just tidy a few things up.

"It's game eight, and we've just lost our first game of the IPL, so I'm not going to sit here and say it's doom and gloom in the change room. It's exactly what you said it was, it's a reality check."

A major reason behind PBKS's expensive night with the ball was the match-winning 77-run stand off just 32 deliveries between Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey, which sealed the chase with four overs to spare after Rajasthan had slipped in the middle overs.

RR head coach Kumar Sangakkara reserved special praise for Dubey's impact off the bench and the composure shown by Ferreira in closing out the chase.

"I thought Dubey today, coming in as an Impact Sub, it's one of the hardest things to do because you don't know if you're playing, you don't know," Sangakkara said. "So mentally, he is exceptionally skillful to be able to keep that focus and go and bring the game to us. He went in at a tough position.

"Don today was outstanding. I thought Riyan's small innings was exactly what we needed to bring the momentum back our way. So it was a collective effort. It's tough coming here and playing against the table-toppers, but it's a good win."