Former Indian cricketer Murali Kartik blamed Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer after their defeat against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2026. Kartik called Iyer the main culprit, saying his slow strike rate cost Punjab Kings the match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, despite a strong start.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) chased a 223-run target as Punjab Kings suffered their first defeat of the season on Tuesday, April 28. Despite late fireworks from Marcus Stoinis, Iyer’s slow innings prevented Punjab Kings from fully capitalizing on their excellent powerplay foundation against a strong RR bowling attack.
Shreyas Iyer walked in after Punjab Kings’ openers laid a strong platform. However, the right-hander struggled against Rajasthan Royals’ spinners in the middle overs, mostly rotating strike instead of finding boundaries.
Iyer scored 30 off 27 balls, including one boundary and one six, before Nandre Burger dismissed him. He was the only Punjab Kings batter with a strike rate below 130, scoring at 111.11.
When Iyer arrived, Punjab Kings scored at 11.70 runs per over. By the time Burger dismissed him, the rate had dropped to 10.05, limiting Punjab Kings from posting a bigger total against Rajasthan Royals’ strong batting lineup. PBKS posted a total of 222 for four wickets in 20 overs.
What Do You Expect from Shreyas Iyer? - Murali Kartik
Murali Kartik said that Shreyas Iyer’s slow innings cost Punjab Kings against Rajasthan Royals. He noted Iyer scored at 111-115, leaving 15-20 runs behind in the middle overs.
"In matches like these, you see where the match was lost. In my opinion, the way Shreyas Iyer could not play today, that mattered in the end. What do you expect from Shreyas Iyer? When the spinners come in, he blows them away with the form that he is in. But he could not do that today. His strike rate of 111-115 ultimately mattered a lot," Murali Kartik said on Cricbuzz.
"If you see PBKS' batting, some players have scored at a strike rate of 260, 280, and even 180, but then there were two players stuck in the middle where 15-20 extra runs could have been scored," he added.
I Thought 224 On The Board Was A Brilliant Score - Shreyas Iyer
During the post-match presentation, Shreyas Iyer defended the batting unit and said the pitch played slow. He blamed poor bowling execution for the defeat against Rajasthan Royals instead of his own batting.
"I thought 224 on the board was a brilliant score. Kudos to the batsmen, the way they came up and they went against the bowlers. I think it was an exceptional performance, especially on this wicket, which was a bit tacky and slow. And I think we fell a bit short in our bowling, in terms of execution. We had planned to bowl a lot of slower ones, pace off, yorkers. I think we fell a bit short over there," Iyer said.
Shreyas is the second-highest run-scorer for Punjab Kings, scoring 309 runs in eight matches at an average of 62 and a strike rate of 174.57. Punjab Kings still top the IPL points table. Iyer will aim to bounce back during the match against Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 3.
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