Hyderabad, April 13 (IANS) As Punjab Kings suffered their second loss of the season after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, their spin-bowling coach Sunil Joshi said they had their chances in the high-scoring slugfest but failed to capitalise on them. After three wins in four matches, PBKS were looking to climb up the standings but suffered an eight-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Despite showcasing their aggressive batting style and posting 245/6 on the board, the Kings fell short on the bowling front as Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down the target with 9 balls remaining.

Reflecting on the match, Sunil Joshi said, “I think the positive to take away from this match is that our batters are definitely in great form. The bowling, however, needs to improve, and we need to increase our dot-ball percentage. That's what we missed while bowling today on this wicket. On a good wicket, the only difference could be the dot-ball percentage in the middle overs. So that's the key, and we couldn't latch on to half of the chances."

He further added, “I think the bowlers didn't fail, I mean it's a good wicket. People come to see more sixes and boundaries rather than five-wicket hauls. So it was an opportunity for us to do well, but fair enough, we missed our chances.”

Openers Prabhsimran Singh (42 off 23) and Priyansh Arya (36 off 13) provided a rapid-fire start to the Kings’ innings, followed by Shreyas Iyer’s captain's knock of 82 runs, which came in just 36 balls. Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis maintained the momentum and scored an unbeaten 34 off just 11 deliveries, playing an instrumental role in pushing the total to 245.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, however, launched a strong counter-attack, with Abhishek Sharma scoring a century and hitting 141 runs off 55 balls. Though Punjab Kings’ bowling unit, led by Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal, managed to dismiss the opening duo in the later part of the match, Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan ensured that the Sunrisers ended on the winning side.

PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer also felt that the bowling unit could have performed better on the night, but ensured that the team would be back strong after making amends in their strategies.

The skipper, at the post-match presentation ceremony, said, "We didn't bowl to our expectations, we have to go to the drawing board and make amends. The opening partnership (between Abhishek and Head) was phenomenal, they didn't give us too many opportunities to capitalize. The over-rotation could have been better from our side."

Punjab Kings will be moving back to their home to play against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 15 at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh.