Punjab Kings assistant coach Brad Haddin is not giving out excuses after his team’s fifth successive defeat in the 2026 Indian Premier League on Thursday night at Dharamsala, against Mumbai Indians, a team already out of play-offs contention.
PBKS were a few runs short after being put into bat. They could only score 200. A Shardul Thakur spell broke their back in the middle overs after which they barely recovered. Needless to day, MI won the match. The fifth defeat in 12 games meant PBKS need to win their remaining two games to guarantee themselves a place in the play-offs.
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Anyway, Haddin, two-time World Cup winner with Australia, didn’t beat around the bush and said in plain terms that his team had not been able to handle pressure in their last few matches.
“I think the whole tournament is pressure. And this stage where we’re at, this is what IPL cricket’s about. You’ve got to be able to handle the big moments. You’ve got to be able to handle pressure,” the Aussie said after the match in the much cooler climes.
“It’s important to respond well. There’s good signs out of tonight’s match. The result’s hurting in the change room. We’ve got to take what we did well out of tonight. And take that over into our preparation. And have a look at what things we can improve on. We’ve got to find a way to get out of the rut we’re in at the moment.”
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PBKS now host one of the league’s favouries Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday. Haddin has urged his bunch to up the ante before it’s too late.
“You want to be playing at this end of the tournament. You want to be playing your best cricket now and we have to find a way. We have to find a way now to play our best cricket in the next couple of games to hopefully get the opportunity to play in the finals, but what we’ve got to do is find a way to play our best cricket in a couple of days’ time,” he said.
After a five-day rest, PBKS will play their last game against Lucknow Super Kings on May 23 at the Ekana Stadium. It will advisable for them not to leave it too late. LSG, also out of the play-offs, and other lesser teams can spoil the party for bigger teams at this stage of the league. The defeat against RCB might be the end of the road for them. They have to be mindful of that.