Explained: Why Yuzvendra Chahal was left unused by Shreyas Iyer in PBKS vs DC IPL 2026 clash
Shreyas Iyer did not give the ball to Yuzvendra Chahal despite keeping the star spinner in the PBKS starting lineup from the beginning against DC.
Explained: Why Yuzvendra Chahal was left unused by Shreyas Iyer in PBKS vs DC IPL 2026 clash originally appeared on Cricket News . Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . KEY TAKEAWAYS: PBKS suffered their fourth consecutive loss against DC on Monday.
Shreyas Iyer did not give bowling to Yuzvendra Chahal throughout the IPL clash. Chahal's performance against left-arm batters in IPL has been dismal. Yuzvendra Chahal was left unused by Shreyas Iyer in PBKS vs DC Punjab Kings have experienced a sudden dip in form after going unbeaten in their first seven matches.
They headed into the DC clash with the hope of ending their three-match losing streak and reclaiming the top position on the league table, however, things did not go as planned. PBKS made a fiery start courtesy of a brilliant half-century from Priyansh Arya, but after the openers departed, their innings slowed down a bit and they ended up posting 210 runs on the board, thanks to Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten 50. DC lost three top-order wickets in quick succession and were under immense pressure after the powerplay but Axar Patel played a captain's knock in the middle overs and formed important partnerships with Tristan Stubbs and David Miller to anchor his team's innings.
Ultimately, Ashutosh Sharma and Madhav Tiwary played quality cameo knocks to make sure DC crossed the line and kept their playoff hopes alive. While defending 210 runs, Iyer used only five bowlers, all being fast or medium fast, despite some of them conceding a few big overs, which proved to be the turning point. It became more significant as Marcus Stoinis kept leaking runs but was given three overs to bowl.