For all the batting gains, PBKS are still waiting on their bowlers

Gujarat Titans needed 11 off the last over. Marcus Stoinis had Arshad Khan, a No. 8 batter playing his first game of IPL 2026, on strike for four of five legal balls and still could not close it out. A few nights earlier, PBKS had failed to defend 224 against Rajasthan Royals in another final-over finish.

PBKS are still well placed on the table, but these back-to-back defeats have underlined the one part of their campaign that remains unconvincing: the bowling and its limitations. PBKS have simply not taken enough wickets early and haven't controlled enough key moments at the death.

That was evident against RR, when PBKS posted 224 on a surface Shreyas Iyer described as "a bit tacky and slow". The plan was built around "a lot of slower ones, pace off, yorkers". It was a defendable total against an RR side that has been the poorest chasing team in the competition since last season, winning only five of 14 such matches.

For most of the night, PBKS seemed on course before Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey added 77 runs in 32 balls. Iyer said PBKS "fell a bit short in our bowling, in terms of execution". Arshdeep Singh finished with 1 for 68, the second most expensive bowling figures ever by a PBKS bowler.

The GT game came in very different conditions but arrived at the same finish. The black-soil pitch had enough grass for Iyer to acknowledge it at the toss, and GT's seamers had shown hard lengths and stump-to-stump lines were difficult to score against. PBKS lost three in the Powerplay and were 47 for 5 at one stage. When Iyer called 163 "a great score on a wicket where the ball was doing a bit", it was not empty optimism. PBKS front-loaded the pacers in search of early wickets as a tactical necessity.

That explains why PBKS bowled 18.5 overs of pace, their second-most in a completed IPL innings, while Yuzvendra Chahal bowled only one over. Chahal's underuse invited the loudest questions, but Iyer backed the conditions and wanted his quicks to "hit the deck hard", stay "at the stumps" to deny room. "We thought we would be able to hit our line and length and get early wickets. But that didn't work out," he said.

That inability to make inroads early has been a recurring issue. In the Powerplay this season, PBKS have taken only 10 wickets in nine matches at an average of 55.2 while conceding runs at 10.72 an over. RR got off to a flyer through Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, totalling 84/1 in the Powerplay. GT, too, were allowed to settle and finished the Powerplay at 58/1.

"I think that is the one big thing in the whole tournament," Brad Haddin, PBKS' assistant coach, said. "You need to find ways to limit the Powerplay… If you have a look at some numbers and different momentum swings throughout the tournament, a lot comes back to how effective you are with a new ball."

Team-wise bowling in the Powerplay in IPL 2026 (updated upto Match 47):

The problem is compounded by how little cushioning this attack has had beyond its frontline options. PBKS have largely operated with a five-man bowling unit, with Shashank Singh's military medium used only sparingly and Stoinis barely a one-over option before being asked to defend against GT. That leaves Iyer with limited room to manoeuvre through awkward match-ups.

That PBKS still dragged the GT game to a point where the opposition needed 11 off the last over was a credit to how long they stayed in the contest. The RR game too went close, with 18 needed in the last two overs.

That really is the larger theme. The issue has been a bowling group that has struggled to seize games early, operated with little margin for error thereafter, and fallen just short in the crunch moments.

PBKS' only successful defence this season came when they piled up 254 against Lucknow Super Giants. The last two games, defending par or slightly above-par totals, demanded sustained control across the closing overs.

Team-wise record while defending totals (since IPL 2025)

Those numbers sit alongside the fact that PBKS have looked far more secure chasing than defending. Since IPL 2025, they have won 10 of 13 chases, the second-best mark in the competition. Batting has repeatedly carried them into winning positions. Bowling has repeatedly had to protect them with much finer margins.

That is why these two losses feel heavy. PBKS have shown they can bat themselves into winning positions, but for a side evolving into a genuine title contender, the missing piece is proving they can bowl themselves home when the game gets tight.