PBKS Bowling Woes: Ian Bishop Warns of Playoff Danger for IPL Leaders

PBKS saw their unbeaten run end when they lost to Rajasthan Royals by six wickets in New Chandigarh. Their bowlers bowled more than twice the number of slower balls compared to RR, but leaked 64 runs off 27 such deliveries without taking a wicket, which meant they erred hugely in execution and got a thorough reality check.

"Look, I think I said yesterday, and it's something that I've been thinking deeply about with Punjab because I'm a great fan of Shreyas Iyer's leadership and also Ricky Ponting as a coach. I like the aggressive way that Punjab, not even this iteration, I go back to the 2014 Punjab Kings team that got to the final. I go back through the pandemic when Punjab were going hard.

"This hasn't just begun. The one thing that concerns me, and it sounds counterintuitive, is that the team at the top of the table, I'm going to identify their bowling as something that they will believe as well, needs to be better because when I go across the metrics again, in each phase, Punjab are in the bottom three bowling-wise.

"So what happens is that you're limiting yourself to trying to out-bat, for want of a more savvy term, like strong opposition teams like RCB, like Sunrisers Hyderabad, a wonderful bowling team like Rajasthan Royals with Jofra Archer. The teams that historically have won the IPL, certainly in this decade, if I could go back maybe up to 2010, 2015, have always had a balance between batting and bowling," Bishop, an ESPNCricinfo expert, told IANS in a virtual interaction ahead of TATA IPL 2026 Revenge Week.

PBKS have also conceded five 200‑plus totals and one score of 195 in seven completed innings. Much of that slide is linked to left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh enduring his toughest IPL season, where his average and economy rate have been on the higher side.

Only time will tell if PBKS get their bowling act right against Gujarat Titans, who they meet in Ahmedabad on Sunday, when the 'revenge week' phase of the competition is observed from May 2-10. PBKS bowlers had fared really well at the back-end of the innings when they previously beat GT in New Chandigarh to kickstart their stellar season on a high.

"Now that may change this IPL, I'm waiting to see. But I do think Punjab are excellent at batting, but they need their bowlers to stand up. I think they mis-executed in that last game that you spoke about. They were put under pressure, and under pressure is when the best bowlers will execute their yorkers, execute their slower balls.

"As good as the surface is up in Mullanpur, I think there was some mis-execution there with full tosses that were intended to be yorkers, et cetera. So the Arshdeep's, the Lockie Ferguson's, to a lesser extent, Yuzvendra Chahal, and those guys have to start executing that," added Bishop.

Catch TATA IPL 2026's Revenge Week, May 2-10, LIVE on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network

- IANS