Former South African skipper Shaun Pollock dismissed the notion that Shreyas Iyer could have decided to retire out after Punjab Kings suffered a six-wicket loss against Rajasthan Royals at New Chandigarh on Tuesday.

PBKS suffered their first loss of the season as they could not defend the target of 223 against the inaugural champions. Asked to bat first by Riyan Parag, PBKS got off to a flying start with Priyansh Arya teeing off in style. 

However, Shreyas Iyer struggled to change his gears in the middle overs as he scored 30 runs off 27 balls with the help of one four and one six, scoring his runs at a strike rate of 111.11.

Pollock said no other PBKS batter in the batting order had shown promising form after Iyer and thus it would have been a brave call to retire out Shreyas Iyer. 

Shaun Pollock said on Cricbuzz, “It depends on who you have coming in next. If Stoinis had already played two knocks like he did in this game, and he was still to come, you could consider it. But there was no one else down the order that was in better form. It would have been a brave call.”

The former Proteas all-rounder said Iyer would be conscious to not fall in the same trap again in the ongoing season.

“His intent was there, and he was swinging at times. But he just couldn’t get anywhere near the connection he wanted. You have one of these days where you try as hard as you can, but the timing is not on. I wouldn’t read too much into it, but it’ll be something where he’ll look at himself. No one will bring it to his attention, but he’ll be conscious of it to ensure he doesn’t fall into that trap again,” said Pollock (via the aforementioned source).

Punjab Kings will next take on Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Sunday.