IPL 2025: Glad the defeat came early, says Shreyas Iyer after loss against RR

Punjab Kings` captain Shreyas Iyer reacts after his dismissal during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Pic/AFP

After getting a dominant start to the IPL 2025 campaign, Punjab Kings suffered their first loss of the season. But skipper Shreyas Iyer stated that the loss could work as a wake-up call for the side.

In the IPL 2025 match against PBKS, Rajasthan Royals' Yashasvi Jaiswal played a glorious knock of 67 runs, followed by Riyan Parag, who scored an unbeaten 43 runs.

"I thought that we would be conceding around 180-185 -- that would have been a great total to chase. We gave away a few extra runs, were not able to execute according to our plans. Glad that it (the defeat) happened at the start of the season," Iyer said at the post-match presentation.

Riding on their knocks, RR reached the score of 205 runs for the loss of four wickets. This also marked the highest total at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium.

In the run chase, Punjab's innings managed to reach the score of 155 runs for the loss of nine wickets. RR, led by Sanju Samson, won the match by a margin of 50 runs.

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The loss against Rajasthan also ended Shreyas Iyer's winning streak of eight matches as captain across two franchises. Only Gautam Gambhir has the record of winning 10 consecutive matches as the IPL captain.

"This is just the third match, you need a slight hiccup at the start to wake you up and glad that it happened right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and come back strong next game," said Iyer, who guided KKR to the IPL title last year.

The Punjab skipper also accepted that there were plenty of learnings from the defeat.

"Many things to learn from this game. Today there was no dew. We cannot be blaming that. We need to go back to the drawing board and see the videos of where we were not able to execute with the bowling. In the batting, we could be focusing on building partnerships. We also lost back-to-back wickets. It is not easy for a new batter to get going."

Despite losing four wickets for 43 runs, Nehal Wadhera stood tall for PBKS. Having faced 41 deliveries, he garnered 63 runs, which were laced with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

Shreyas Iyer praised the 24-year-old for his gritty half-century under pressure.

"Phenomenal batting under pressure. He took some time, he was able to analyse and was able to charge on the loose balls. It was a decent pitch to bat on, it was holding a bit. Were trying to hit the deck and not give them much pace. We could have built a few partnerships and taken it a little slow, rather than over-attacking."

Punjab Kings will lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next IPL 2025 fixture on April 12.

(With PTI Inputs)