Punjab Kings, who topped the league stage of IPL 2025, suffered a crushing 8-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur after being dismissed for 101 in 14.1 overs.

After RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and chose to bowl first, hosts PBKS put up a horrendous display as they fell like a pack of cards in the crucial game.

Playing in the IPL playoffs for the first time since 2014, PBKS failed to fire, losing five wickets for 50 runs. When captain Shreyas Iyer was expected to stick to the pitch and help his team recover from the poor start, he played a wild shot against a Josh Hazlewood delivery and got out. Hazlewood and Suyash Sharma were the picks of the bowlers, picking up three wickets each.

After his dismissal, PBKS coach Ricky Ponting was seen rushing to the dressing room and having an animated chat with Iyer. Sunil Gavaskar, who was on the mic at the time of the dismissal, also criticised Iyer. "Not a good shot at all. A nothing shot," said Gavaskar.

Now, former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody has slammed Iyer for failing to read the game situation and questioned his strategy while facing Hazlewood.

“The first ball he played and missed – the perfect line that you’d expect Hazlewood to bowl. He sort of played at it, but didn’t really want to play at it. And then, that third ball he got out. To me, he totally misread the game situation and his own situation. Yes, he would be aware that Hazlewood has had him a few times in the past. He would know the exact numbers,” the former Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) coach said in an ESPNcricinfo interaction.

Moody also said that Iyer should have been cautious in his approach while facing Hazlewood. The Indian batter now averages an appalling 2.75 in 22 balls against Hazlewood in T20s, with the Aussie seamer dismissing him four times while conceding only 11 runs.

“At times, you need to put your ego in your pocket and just move forward. To me that was the perfect example of not reading the situation – trying to overcome something that has been a darkness in the past instead of just swallowing your pride and just moving on by just accumulating. You only had to see Hazlewood out. It was a simple thing – see him out and look to dissect the rest of their attack,” Moody added.

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