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 the 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 which has gone on to quietly define an otherwise impressive campaign. PBKS have simply not taken enough wickets early and haven't controlled enough key moments at the death.

That much was evident against RR a few nights earlier, when PBKS had posted 224 on a surface Shreyas Iyer described as "a bit tacky and slow". The plan, as he explained in his post-match chat later, was built around "a lot of slower ones, pace off, yorkers" once the pitch began to grip further. It was a defendable total against an RR side that has been the poorest chasing team in the competition since the start of last season, winning only five of 14 such matches.

For most of the night, PBKS seemed on course too before Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey added 77 runs in 32 balls and stole the match. Iyer's reading afterwards was that PBKS had "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 on it for Iyer to acknowledge it at the toss, and GT's seamers had already shown in the first innings that 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, underlining just how awkward strokeplay had been. So when Iyer called 163 "a great score on a wicket where the ball was doing a bit at the start, especially the new ball", it was not empty optimism. PBKS were defending a par-ish total on a surface that still offered something, which meant front-loading the pacers in search of early wickets was a tactical necessity.

That also explains why PBKS ended up bowling 18.5 overs of pace, their second-most in a completed IPL innings, while Yuzvendra Chahal, whose numbers fall off a clip against left-handers, bowled only one over. Chahal's underuse, on paper, invited the loudest questions, but it was perhaps also the case of Iyer simply backing the conditions and wanting his quicks to do what GT's seamers had done: "hit the deck hard", stay "at the stumps" to deny room to free arms, and force mistakes with the new ball. "We thought we would be able to hit our line and length and get early wickets. But that didn't work out," he later said.

That inability to make inroads early has been a recurring issue for PBKS. In the Powerplay this season, they have been one of the poorest wicket-taking attacks, managing only 10 wickets in nine matches at an average of 55.2 while also conceding runs at 10.72 an over. RR got off to a flyer through Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, totalling 84/1 in the Powerplay before Chahal dragged PBKS back into the game. GT, too, were allowed to settle after seeing off the initial movement 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 of their new-ball bowling ahead of their match against SRH in Hyderabad. "You need to find ways to limit the Powerplay. And that's not only us, that's everyone through the tournament. 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. And that's both with the ball in hand and with the bat.

"I don't think that the losses were concerning. But I think if you look at the last game, GT probably did well with the new ball and the Powerplay, and I've already touched on how important that is."

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 in a couple of games and Stoinis himself barely a one-over option before being asked to defend against GT. That leaves Iyer with limited room to manoeuvre through awkward match-ups, like Chahal against GT's left-handers the other night.

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

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

In fact, PBKS' only successful defence this season came when they piled up 254 against Lucknow Super Giants, one of the weaker batting sides this season. To be fair, the sheer weight of that total would have burdened any opposition, but the last two games, when they were defending par or slightly above-par totals, demanded sustained control across the closing overs.

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

The broader numbers above still resist any suggestion of a pattern. PBKS have won six of 13 matches while defending since IPL 2025. Although their win percentage tapers when asked to defend 200-plus totals, five wins in nine attempts is still far from alarming.

Those numbers also 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 behind only RCB. 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 often enough that they can bat themselves into winning positions, but for a side that's evolving into a genuine title contender for the second year in a row, the missing piece of the puzzle is proving they can bowl themselves home when the game gets tight.