Did Punjab Kings go overboard with their intent in Qualifier 1 loss to RCB?

India Today

30-05-2025

Punjab Kings have been a team that has thrilled everyone with their batting this season. At the top, you have two young guns in the form of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, who have put bowling attacks to the sword with their fearless batting. This has been followed by Shreyas Iyer in most of the games and Josh Inglis in recent times.advertisementWhat has worked for them is the way they have counter-attacked despite losing wickets. This was seen in the CSK game in Mullanpur when Priyansh scored a hundred after they were 83 for five at one point and went on to score 219 in the end. This has been the template that worked for Punjab this season, but during the IPL Qualifier 1, it completely backfired. PBKS were mauled by the RCB bowlers and they were bundled out for just 101 runs.Some rash shots were involved and the timing of their attack seemed to be misplaced. But was intent the issue for the capitulation?Shot-making at fault
Some of the shots played by the PBKS batters would make you feel that they were in a hurry to make RCB feel the heat. Prabhsimran was going along nicely and hit two boundaries against Bhuvneshwar Kumar before a wild shot saw him nick it to the wicketkeeper.advertisementThe same could be said about Shreyas and Inglis, who could have controlled the aggression and played better shots. Matthew Hayden dissected it well when he said it is almost like your heartbeat. You need to learn how to calm it down in big situations."It's almost like a heartbeat. You've got to slow your heart rate down when it comes to a big moment of making decisions. Tonight, you can just tell that their heart was just pounding away. Their shot-making decisions are not quite as sharp as what we've seen from this world-class batting unit throughout the course of the IPL," said Hayden.Hayden went on to say that in some games, you don't need to beat your chest to prove that you are an aggressive team, especially against an attack that has Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar."One of the things that you have to press upon these boys in big games is that there is no point beating your chest. You have to beat the ball and the ball in front of you is two world-class bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and also Josh Hazlewood, and they just slipped up. I think they'll get it right the next game," said Hayden.So, should PBKS abandon their approach of high intent?advertisementWell, the answer is no. If you look at the entire IPL 2025 season, PBKS' approach has never been an issue. Punjab lost three or more wickets in the powerplay on four occasions before the IPL Qualifier 1. And they went on to win three of them.So, the batting just had an off day on Thursday. In fact, PBKS bowling coach James Hopes said that the intent needs to come back in Ahmedabad when they play Qualifier 2."Our batters were a little bit reckless. They have counterattacked the whole year, and it's worked the majority of the time. It didn't work tonight. We do need to talk about it, but we also understand we're going to a pitch that's going to be completely different from what we just played on. So the aggressive nature sort of should return," said Hopes.Probably one thing Punjab needs to learn is to be more adaptable when they find themselves in a spot. One thing to learn from the loss is has to be to play smart shots. When they sit to analyse the game, Sunil Gavaskar said one of the main topics of discussion should be shot-making.advertisement"You learn a lot more from your losses and from defeats and I'm pretty certain that the Punjab kings will be sitting down and trying to analyse why they played some of the shots. If they are honest with themselves, they should be able to be honest with themselves. Was that shot needed? You see Prabhsimran. Already 10 runs in the over. Was there a need for that? When you're going down to somebody experienced, you're taking a bit of a risk. Was the risk needed after having scored 10 runs? Stoinis, all those players who went across the line and played and got out, they would want to look at it. Was that shot necessary?" said Gavaskar.Shreyas said that he doesn't want to forget the loss on Thursday. If he is doing that, then he and Punjab should analyse their shot-making.Stay updated on IPL 2025 with India Today! Get match schedules, team squads, live score, and the latest IPL points table for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Plus, keep track of the top contenders for the IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap. Don't miss a moment!Must Watch