'I'm glad that we lost against Rajasthan Royals': Shreyas Iyer makes bizarre statement

Shreyas Iyer-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) hosted the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 18th match of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) on Saturday, April 5.

Team Punjab Kings lost the match against Team Rajasthan Royals by 50 runs at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur.

Also Read: IPL Points Table, Orange Cap, Purple Cap After CSK vs DC Match 17 & PBKS vs RR Match 18 - IPL 2025

We were unable to execute a lot of things - Shreyas Iyer

Bowling first in the match, Punjab Kings were not up to the mark as they allowed RR to register a huge score of 205/4. Lockie Ferguson emerged as the most successful bowler as he picked up two wickets for 37 runs.

Chasing the target, PBKS lost two wickets in the first over, and from thereon, the pressure kept building on them. Even though Nehal Wadhera put up a great fight with his half-century, PBKS were restricted to 155/9.

Speaking after the match, PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer said that they gave away extra runs with the ball and were unable to execute their plans. Shreyas Iyer asserted:

"To be honest, I thought that we would have been okay to chase something around 180-185 over here but we gave few extra runs. We were unable to execute a lot of things and we will surely learn from this one. I'm glad that this loss happened at the beginning of the season.

"It was a tricky wicket. The ball was holding on a bit. We were trying to take pace off and it was working well for us. When I walked out to bat, I felt that we could've stitched a few partnerships rather than over-attacking at the bowlers."

He is a phenomenal player - Shreyas Iyer on Nehal Wadhera

Shreyas Iyer further emphasized on the importance of going back to the drawing board and bouncing back strong as IPL is a long tournament. He stated:

"Obviously as you can see that today there was no dew which we were anticipating at the start of the game. We can't be blaming on that. We need to go back to the drawing board and see the videos. In terms of our batting, we will try to focus on building up partnerships. We lost back-to-back wickets as well which was not good."

Shreyas Iyer lavished rich praise on the middle-order batter Nehal Wadhera and labeled him as a phenomenal player. Iyer signed off by saying that he was glad that PBKS lost the game against RR in the first half of the competition as it will act as a wake-up call for them. He said:

"He is a phenomenal player. The courage he showed when he walked out to bat was brilliant. He took some time at the crease and then he was able to analyze the wicket and target the bad deliveries.

"We won our previous two games and I'm glad that we lost a game in the early part of the tournament. This can be a wake-up call for us."

How did PBKS perform in the previous IPL match against RR?

Punjab Kings (PBKS) played their previous Indian Premier League match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati and registered a win by five wickets. The star of the match was Sam Curran as bowling first, he dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and returned to remove Dhruv Jurel. Also, with the bat he smashed an unbeaten 63 runs off 41 balls after they were reduced to 48/4.

Meanwhile, a complete bowling performance from the Punjab Kings saw the Rajasthan Royals being restricted to just 144/9 despite Riyan Parag’s 48 and Ravichandran Ashwin’s 28.

Chasing 145, PBKS lost early wickets as the Rajasthan Royals bowlers left them struggling at 48/4, but Sam Curran remained calm. He rebuilt with Jitesh Sharma, adding 63 crucial runs. After Jitesh’s dismissal, Ashutosh Sharma provided the finishing touches and, alongside Sam Curran, took the team past the finish line with 7 balls remaining.