Punjab Kings lost their sixth consecutive match in the Indian Premier League 2026 season, taking them to the brink of elimination from the playoff race. A team that was unbeaten in the first half of the season has suddenly fallen apart and is not looking forward to winning at the moment.

While the on-field performance has been disappointing, Punjab has also faced scrutiny for several controversies off the field. From Yuzvendra Chahal’s in-flight vaping video Arshdeep Singh called Tilak Verma ‘dark’Difficulties are increasing one after another for the team led by Shreyas Iyer.

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However, as Punjab looks likely to miss out on the playoffs, bowling coach James Hopes does not believe so off field controversy Are responsible for the downfall of the team

According to Hopes, Punjab’s season deteriorated as they repeatedly failed to control the tempo in games. He said that the team kept missing important moments during matches, which resulted in them losing in the second half of the campaign.

James Hopes said in the post-match press conference on Sunday, 17 May, “I don’t think any off-field thing derailed our campaign. The thing that derailed our campaign was our inability to control the pace in games. Every time it felt like we were going to do that, we would do something to hurt ourselves or harm ourselves.”

Loss doesn’t affect my mood: Shreyas Iyer

Playing in Dharamshala on Sunday. Punjab gave 222 runs against defending champion Royal Challengers Bangalore. Any hopes of chasing the target soon evaporated after Punjab lost three wickets inside the first four overs of the innings.

Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh and captain Shreyas Iyer all missed single-digit scores as Bhuvneshwar Kumar dominated the powerplay.

Reacting to the defeat, Shreyas Iyer blamed the top order, including himself, for the defeat. The Punjab captain admitted that the team failed to get the kind of starts he had hoped for throughout the season.

Shreyas Iyer said, “We were three runs behind and most of our run scorers were Prabhasimran and Priyansh. The start they used to give us in the powerplay, obviously we couldn’t do it this time and I also came in and got out early. Really disappointed.”

Despite the defeat, Shreyas said he is optimistic about Punjab’s playoff prospects and insisted that the defeat does not affect his outlook as a person. The captain said that he does not pay much attention to the failures and believes that the team still has a chance to turn things around.

Shreyas concluded, “I always remain positive despite the results. It doesn’t decide how my personality is and I always come with a strong outlook. I’m not someone who lives too much in the past. It’s over, it’s gone. Tomorrow again I’m going to see the sunrise and there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.”

Punjab Kings finished the Dharamshala stage with three losses from three matches. They will now head to Lucknow for their final group-stage game of the season against Lucknow Super Giants.

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