From 6-0 to six losses in a row: how Punjab Kings' IPL 2026 slipped off a cliff
For the first half of IPL 2026, Punjab Kings looked like the team that would not lose. They went 6-0 across their opening seven matches, chased down a record 265 against Delhi Capitals, and sat top of the table by a margin that felt structural rather than circumstantial. Then they lost to Rajasthan Royals. Then five more in a row. RCB's 23-run win at Dharamsala on Sunday made it six straight, and with one league match left, the side that started the season looking like champions is now hoping the maths still works.
The 6-0 start, and the night that turned
PBKS were not just winning early; they were winning loudly. The DC chase in April was the highest successful chase in IPL history, with Prabhsimran Singh's 76 off 26 setting the platform and Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten 71 finishing the job. The narrative felt locked in. KL Rahul's 152 not out for DC barely registered as resistance.
The unbeaten run ended on April 28, when Rajasthan Royals chased down 223 with four balls to spare. Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey put on 77 off 32 for the fifth wicket and the aura came off the team. The slide has not really paused since.
What changed
Shreyas Iyer is still among the leading run-scorers of the tournament, but during the six-match losing run he has crossed 31 only once. The middle order, which carried the chase in record fashion against DC, has stopped finishing. The bowling has leaked at both ends of the innings. None of these are individually fatal. Stacked together across six games, they have made every match a slow squeeze.
The other thing that changed is the schedule. The first half of the season gave PBKS home conditions in Mullanpur where they had figured out the surface. The second half pulled them onto tracks where opposition spinners enjoyed long middle phases and Punjab's own quicks did not have the same margin to bowl into. Ricky Ponting's preferred shape, with Iyer at three and aggressive options on either side of him, has not held together for whole games away from home.
What's left
PBKS still sit fourth on the table with 13 points. They have one match left, against Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on May 23. Even a win does not guarantee a playoff spot. They need other results to fall their way, particularly with two or three teams just below them holding similar points and chasing tighter net run rates. The dressing room that started this season looking like the league's outlier is now learning what the back end of the IPL feels like when the slide overtakes you.
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