Former Indian fast bowler Mohit Sharma slammed Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy after they suffered a three-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamshala on Monday.

Defending a par score of 211 runs, Iyer decided to not to give a solitary over to his lead spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal. Earlier, Axar Patel also didn’t bowl himself and any other spinner in the first innings.

Meanwhile, Chahal has been in decent form in the ongoing IPL 2026, taking eight wickets in nine innings at an average of 35.75 and an economy rate of 9.53. The leg-spinner had created a lot of chances in the previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad but PBKS fielders had failed to grab them.

“You did not give bowling to Yuzvendra Chahal. He has been a champion bowler. I think that decision took PBKS towards defeat. He is such a great bowler and has done so many great things, give him small ground or big ground, turning track or flat track, he has always performed for his franchise and for India. You have to be proactive as a captain, PBKS have a great captain and coach, and they have proven it. But Yuzi should have been the first player to be trusted here,” Mohit Sharma said on Cricbuzz.

“Not giving him an over and using fast bowlers back-to-back, those who are getting hit in the middle overs, you never got the cushion to get back into the game. So now the question is how the players should be rotated. PBKS also have to think about how to break this momentum of losses. The momentum created by losses means that the environment will be bad, and questions will arise,” he continued.

Iyer decided to back Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, Marcus Stoinis, Ben Dwarshius, and Yash Thakur. Barring Singh, all the PBKS fast bowlers conceded their runs at an economy rate of more than 11.

Punjab Kings will next take on Mumbai Indians at Dharamshala on Thursday.