Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has questioned Punjab Kings’ batting approach after they suffered a six-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians at Dharamshala in the ongoing IPL 2026 on Thursday. PBKS posted 200 runs on the board and Sehwag reckons the team’s batters are playing with fear, not like they were doing in the first half of the tournament.

PBKS have lost their last five matches of the season and have veered off the track after getting off to a dream start. Shreyas Iyer’s team will now need to win their next two games to keep themselves in the playoff qualification race.

“They are not batting as freely as they did in the first half. Now there is fear in everyone’s mind that we might get out, we might lose, we might score fewer runs. Until you do not put aside winning and losing, and bat freely, they can see what comes. I am a little scared for them now because they might be in trouble for qualification now. They have shot themselves in the foot in these last five matches,” Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

Sehwag questioned PBKS’ bowling effort as Mumbai Indians needed 50 runs off the last three overs. Marco Jansen conceded 22 runs in the 18th over and it was the turning point of the game.

“There were 80 runs to win off the last six overs, and maybe 51 needed off the last three, from there how did Punjab lose the match? I did not understand that. PBKS will have to think about their bowling, Marco Jansen and Bartlett conceded over 50 runs, these are the bowlers that bowled in the death as well. There were 15 runs to defend in the final over, it should have been defended, but it did not happen. Last time it was Stoinis, now it is Bartlett, so this is now a serious concern for them. Now they are not fighting for the top two, they are fighting for qualification now,” he added.

Punjab Kings will next take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Dharamshala on Sunday.