After remaining unbeaten in their first 7 matches in IPL 2026, Yuzvendra Chahal-starrer Punjab Kings have now lost 4 consecutive matches. This has badly affected their chances of making the top four in this year’s tournament.
On Monday, PBKS lost to struggling Delhi Capitals at their second home ground, the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala. The thrilling win kept Delhi’s playoff hopes in the tournament alive, albeit bleak.
DC completes most successful chase in Dharamshala
DC’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss didn’t really go to plan. Priyansh Arya performed normally and scored 56 runs in 33 balls, but was dismissed by debutant Madhav Tiwari.
After this, Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer and all-rounder Cooper Connolly made a strong partnership of 83 runs, which was broken when Tiwari returned to take the wicket of Connolly. Iyer ended the innings with 59 not out, but Suryansh Shedge’s innings took Punjab to 210 runs.
Shez entered the crease when Mitchell Starc had already dismissed Marcus Stoinis and Shashank Singh on consecutive balls. Shez not only stopped Starc from taking a hat-trick by hitting a six, but also hit another six and a four in the same over and finally remained unbeaten on 21 runs in 8 balls by hitting a four on the last ball of the innings.
Delhi’s batting powerplay was arguably worse than their bowling powerplay. Arshdeep Singh dismissed both KL Rahul and Sahil Parakh while dismissing Abhishek Porel on either side of Yash Thakur within the first six overs.
Tristan Stubbs was also run out due to a mix-up and DC were in trouble at 74/4. David Miller and captain Akshar Patel both scored half-centuries and shared an important partnership of 64 runs. Crucial cameos from Ashutosh Sharma, Madhav Tiwary and Auqib Nabi helped Delhi complete the most successful chase in IPL history at Dharamshala with an over to spare.
Interestingly, Delhi Capitals made five changes in their playing XII for this match.
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Yuzvendra Chahal controversy
In an unprecedented move, all 39 overs bowled in this match were bowled by fast bowlers, including four from PBKS’ Marcus Stoinis.
Kuldeep Yadav was ruled out for this match, while neither Axar Patel nor Yuzvendra Chahal were considered useful to bowl. Patel is the captain of the Capitals and has decided not to field himself.
On the other hand, Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer was criticized for not trusting Yuzvendra Chahal while all his other bowlers were isolated. Although, in theory, the conditions would have favored the pace consistently, Yuzvendra Chahal is still the highest wicket-taker in IPL history.
This year, however, Yuzvendra Chahal has hit a bit hot and cold like all the Punjab bowlers. His 8 wickets in 11 matches have come at an average of 35.75 and an economy of 9.35.
“It was a spontaneous decision” – Punjab Kings coach
Speaking after the match, Punjab Kings bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule explained in detail the decision not to bowl to Yuzvendra Chahal.
“Obviously, there was a thought during the time-outs (about bowling the spinners), but I think the ball was seaming and the conditions were suitable for the fast bowlers. So I think the decision was very intuitive to continue with the fast bowlers and see how we can get the wickets that we did early on. But I think a partnership took it away from us,” he said.
When Bahutule was asked to focus on the reasons behind Punjab’s defeat, he said that the team had to bear the brunt of poor bowling and dropped catches.
“Definitely, we will look at some of the phases of our bowling and the fielding part as well. Then, today, unfortunately, we dropped some catches again at a crucial time, so that was very important. And I think we will look at that, but again, we don’t really have time to think about it; we have to move on.”
He said, “At crucial times, we are dropping catches, which unfortunately is breaking the momentum that we were gaining. 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 could have won the game by 20 runs.”
Also Read: Axar Patel punished by BCCI after Delhi Capitals’ costly mistake against Punjab Kings in IPL 2026
