Punjab Kings, who were placed first for most of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season’s league stage, are currently battling to maintain their position at number four. Their fourth straight loss of the season came on Monday against the Delhi Capitals, which sparked debates regarding the team’s tactics, particularly after Yuzvendra Chahal was left out of the bowling lineup against DC. Later, PBKS made another strange move by sending Sairaj Bahutule, the team’s spin bowling coach, to the press conference to defend the no-spinner choice.
PBKS’s prospects of qualifying for the playoffs are in jeopardy as they have lost four straight games after going undefeated in their first seven. Fans and commentators were perplexed when Chahal, who was included in the team’s starting lineup, failed to bowl a single over against Delhi.
“Definitely there was a thought (about bowling spinners) during the time-out, but I think the ball was seaming and the conditions were suitable for the fast bowlers. So I think the decision was very spontaneous to continue with the fast bowlers and see how we can get those wickets, which we did early on. But I think one partnership just took it away from us,” Bahutule said while talking about the all pace strategy.
Bahutule ruled on making any significant changes to the team in order to revitalize the remainder of the campaign and end the league stage on a high note.
“I think the team that has been doing so well, yes, we have lost a few games. We will again reflect on certain areas only. There won’t be any major changes, in the sense that everybody has been performing. But we will definitely look into it and see how we can just turn it around for ourselves,” he asserted.
The PBKS spin bowling coach blamed his fielders and bowlers for the loss, echoing captain Shreyas Iyer’s remarks.
“Definitely we will look into certain phases of our bowling and also the fielding part. Again, today unfortunately we dropped a few catches again at a crucial time, so that was very important. And I think we will reflect, but again, there is no time for us to really brood about it; we must move ahead. At a crucial time, we are dropping catches, which unfortunately is breaking the momentum that we were getting. Because if we had taken two catches, I don’t think they would have reached the target; it would have been very difficult for them and we may have won the game by 20 runs,” he said
