“It was like a march past” - Former KKR cricketer’s scathing attack on PBKS after IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 loss vs RCB

Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Murali Kartik slammed the Punjab Kings' (PBKS) batting approach and shot selection during their humbling eight-wicket loss to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 Qualifier 1. The Shreyas Iyer-led side were bundled out for just 101 runs in 14.1 overs in the playoff match in Mullanpur on Thursday, May 29.

After being put into bat by Rajat Patidar, the PBKS top order were outdone by the RCB pace attack. All three of Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Josh Hazlewood made the most of the new ball and the conditions to reduce the opposition to 38-4 in the sixth over.

PBKS brought on Musheer Khan as the impact sub in the first innings itself, but their batting depth meant for nothing as RCB continued to strike at regular intervals. Cameos by Marcus Stoinis and Azmatullah Omarzai took the team to the three-figure mark, but they were all out of wickets with 35 balls to spare.

Murali Kartik questioned PBKS' slam-bang approach, and blamed them for being stubborn with it.

"It was one of those days where, it was a procession, it was a march past. For me, what was surprising was that nobody tried to arrest this slide. It was as if they wanted to play one way, which was to hit your way out of it. Some of the shots that they played against Suyash, or even for that matter, when you know that there is a bit of bounce from the surface," Kartik said.

"If you have picked 11 batters, somebody will say, 'I am going to get you to a decent enough score'. You have picked such a long batting line up, many of them are all-rounders, but that is game sense. Imagine if this was the final or if this was only one game, would you bat the same way? It is confounding, actually," he added.

With this win, RCB qualify for the IPL final for the first time in nine years. PBKS, on the other hand, will have to play the knockout Qualifier 2 clash against the winner of the Eliminator between the Gujarat Titans (GT) and the Mumbai Indians (MI).

"On such wickets, we need to work on our batting" - PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer after IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 loss against RCB

PBKS' batting unit was on a hot streak in the latter half of the league stage, posting scores close to 200 on a consistent basis. The table-toppers had two in-form openers, while Inglis and Iyer also played their roles to perfection, before the finishers came into the picture. However, it did not go according to plan for them in the high-stakes contest.

"On such wickets, we need to work on our batting. In all the games we've played here, there was variable bounce. We can't give such reasons, bat according to the situations and have to live up to it. We've lost the battle, not the war," PBKS skipper Iyer said in an interaction with the broadcasters after the match.

IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 is scheduled to be played on Sunday, June 1, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.