'Lost the battle, not the war': Shreyas Iyer declares Punjab Kings' comeback after Qualifier 1 loss

In Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, the Shreyas Iyer-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) took on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Thursday, May 29.

Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings lost the match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 8 wickets at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh, to book a place in the Qualifier 2.

Also Read: Watch: Virat Kohli promises IPL 2025 glory to Anushka Sharma with 'one more to go' signal after Qualifier 1

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Not a day to forget - Shreyas Iyer

Being invited to bat first in the match, PBKS had a nightmarish outing, and they got all out for 101 in 14.1 overs, with Marcus Stoinis (26) being the top performer. Defending the target, PBKS bowlers couldn't do much and allowed the run-chase to be completed in 10 overs.

Speaking after the match, Shreyas Iyer looked unfazed by the defeat and said that they won't forget the day and will take learnings from it. Shreyas Iyer said:

"Not a day to forget, but got to go back to the drawing board. We lost a lot of wickets (in the first innings.) There's a lot to go back and study on."

I am not doubting on my decisions - Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer, who was full of confidence despite the loss, said that he would never doubt his decisions as they made good plans and just couldn't execute them. He said:

"I am not doubting on my decisions to be honest. Whatever we did in terms of planning, outside of the ground whatever (planning) we did, I think it was on point. Just that we couldn't execute it on the field."

Iyer further said that the batters need to step up to give something to bowlers to defend and dropped a chilling message, saying, "We have lost the battle, but not the war".

"Can't even blame the bowlers, as it was a low total to defend. We got to work on our batting especially on this wicket. In all the games we have played here there has been some variable bounce. We can't give such reasons because we are professionals at the end of the day and we have to bat according to the situation and we have to live up to it. We have lost the battle, but not the war," he added.

PBKS had lost their previous IPL match against RCB as well

Punjab Kings had suffered a defeat in their previous IPL 2025 clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 7 wickets in Mullanpur on April 20.

Batting first after losing the toss, PBKS could only manage 157 runs for the loss of 6 wickets, which looked like a below-par score. Their innings started with promise as openers Priyansh Arya (22) and Prabhsimran Singh (33) added 42 runs in just 4.2 overs.

However, once the openers got out, PBKS lost momentum. Skipper Shreyas Iyer failed to make an impact, while Josh Inglis (29), Shashank Singh (31), and Marco Jansen (25) chipped in with decent runs to take PBKS to a decent score.

Defending the score, PBKS got off to a good start as Arshdeep Singh removed Phil Salt in the first over. But after that, things completely went downhill for PBKS, and Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal hit brilliant fifties as the visitors chased down the target in 18.5 overs.