How Punjab Kings went from ‘favourites’ to ‘chokers’:Dropped catches, top-4 dependence and gap in ‘real’ vs ‘reel’ performance?

We are not many days away from finding out which team will be the winner in IPL 2026. But one thing is for certain, that this has been a competition where no team has had an outright dominance. Interestingly, this could not be said at least for the first half of the tournament, when the Punjab Kings had captured attention with their sheer dominance and consistency. Power-packed batting, coupled with Shreyas Iyer’s impressive captaincy skills, had tipped Punjab Kings as one of the favourites to win the title. Punjab Kings had become the first team to remain unbeaten in their first six matches of a season and the stars seemed to have aligned for Iyer and his men to win a maiden championship. But what followed next has been nothing short of disastrous. The wheels quickly fell off the Punjab Kings’ campaign with six losses in a row and now their playoff hopes depend on other results. PBKS’ win over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) did manage to keep their playoff hopes alive. But how have PBKS gone from ‘favourites’ to ‘chokers’? Let’s find out. Overdependence on top four? One of the biggest reasons for the Punjab Kings’ success was their explosive batting, especially at the top. The uncapped duo of Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya wreaked havoc on the opposition in almost every game they played. And if Arya and Prabhsimran did not get the opposition, Cooper Connolly and Shreyas Iyer certainly did. But that graph has horribly gone south in Punjab Kings’ next six matches. The 2025 finalists haven’t had the kind of explosive starts through Priyansh and Prabhsimran, while Connolly and Shreyas have not been able to produce the kind of consistency they did in the earlier part of the season. What that has done that it has left their middle-order exposed big time. Punjab Kings pained by bowling woes One of the other major reasons for the Punjab Kings’ failure has been their bowling. PBKS’ bowling has lacked sting up front and has not backed up their batting in the second phase of the IPL 2026 group stage. Arshdeep Singh, the most accomplished bowler of the Punjab Kings’ line-up, has failed to take wickets and even when he did, has leaked runs left, right and centre. Not just Arshdeep, but Punjab Kings’ bowling has taken a beating this season. Although Arshdeep Singh picked up 14 wickets and Yuzvendra Chahal 12, the runs have come at an expensive economy rate, which has not helped the team’s cause at all. Additionally, the Punjab Kings have not been the best when it comes to fielding. They have dropped a number of catches, which has haunted them big time. Shashank Singh infamously dropped three catches in a match against the Lucknow Super Giants, which PBKS won. And in the next game against the Delhi Capitals, he dropped KL Rahul on 12 and the batter went on to smash an unbeaten 152*, the highest score by an Indian in the IPL. ‘Real’ vs ‘Reel’ performance Now, this might not be one of the reasons, but it certainly cannot be counted out when talking of Punjab Kings’ slump this season. In this current day and age, the social media game has emerged as one of the areas that every team looks to work towards. While one can argue that fun banters are part of social media, Punjab Kings’ social media activity has actually been a talking point this season. Virat Kohli once famously said, “If you can give it, you gotta take it back as well,” and Punjab Kings have been criticised heavily for their social media game. While PBKS’ social media talk has been big, their performances in the second half of the season have not backed it up. Taking jibes at other teams has actually backfired for PBKS this season. After rain and wet outfield led to a washout against KKR, Shreyas Iyer’s sister Shresta posted a fun reel where she joked about giving away one point for free. In the viral video, she said in Punjabi, “Saade Punjabiyan da dil vadda hunda hai, lo de ditta ek point” (Punjabis have big hearts, here, take one point). And that has received major backlash every time the Punjab Kings have lost a game. To top it off, more off-field controversies, including Yuzvendra Chahal’s vaping incident and Arshdeep Singh’s social media activity has also sparked controversy. The pacer, in a video, referred to Tilak Varma as ‘andhere’ (darkness), a jibe on his colour and that has received criticism. In a latest video, Arshdeep was seen making fun of Priyansh Arya’s tooth gaps. Two home grounds, a problem? Punjab Kings’ problems have also been compounded by the fact that they have had to play at two different home venues. The Iyer-led team won three out of their four home matches in Mullanpur. And in Dharamshala, the record has been disastrous this season with three losses in three matches. With seven wins in 14 matches, Punjab Kings sit in the fourth spot after match 68, but will hope that the Mumbai Indians (MI) beat the Rajasthan Royals and KKR lose to the Delhi Capitals, which will secure their fourth-place finish.