Punjab Kings spin coach Sairaj Bahutule admitted they didn’t execute bowling skills needed in last five overs after suffering a three-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals at Dharamshala in the ongoing IPL 2026. The home team posted a par score of 210 runs on the board and then had their noses in front after taking three early wickets.

DC were reduced to 33-3 in the Powerplay overs and with enough help in the surface for the fast bowlers, PBKS were favorites to win the contest. However, Axar Patel and David Miller scored 56 and 51 runs respectively to keep their team alive in the contest

Furthermore, Ashutosh Sharma (24 off 10) and Madhav Tiwari (18 off 8) were able to add the finishing touches.

On the other hand, barring Arshdeep Singh, all the PBKS bowlers conceded their runs at an economy rate of more than 11.

“I’ve said this before also, there are going to be lots of ups and downs,” Bahutule said at the post-match press conference, “there are going to be times where you’ve almost won the game and you lose, like today, we had almost had the game with us, but we didn’t execute the skills needed in the last five overs.

“So all we need to do is just keep this aside and move ahead and play the next three games to the best of our ability”.

PBKS were once again sloppy in the field, dropping two catches. Axar Patel was given a life when he was on 25 by Suryansh Shedge whereas Tristan Stubbs was dropped when he was on nine runs by Arshdeep Singh.

Bahutule added, “If we had caught two catches, I don’t think they would have maybe reached the target, but it would have been very difficult for them and maybe won the game by 20 runs”.

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