NEW DELHI, April 29 (Reuters) - Nothing could go wrong for the Punjab Kings in the early part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season but their bowling unit was given a reality check on Tuesday as the team suffered their first defeat of the campaign.
The six-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals was Punjab's first defeat in eight matches, though they continue to lead the 10-team league on 13 points, one ahead of defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Punjab piled up 222-4 but could not defend the total as their pace trio of Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson and Marco Jansen leaked a combined 166 in 11.2 overs.
Donovan Ferreira (52) and Shubham Dubey (31) closed out an unbroken 77-run partnership off 32 balls as Rajasthan triumphed with four balls to spare.
"I think we fell a bit short in our bowling, in terms of execution," Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer said.
"We had planned to bowl a lot of slower ones, pace-off, yorkers. I think we fell a bit short over there.
"Also, they had tremendous partnership in the middle, especially by Ferreira and Shubham Dubey coming in and scoring those crucial runs at the end."
Iyer said it was becoming increasingly difficult to contain hitters in the IPL's batter-friendly conditions.
"This is the format where I feel that a lot of players have changed their game and when they come in, they go bang-bang from ball one.
"It's an arduous task for bowlers to come with a certain plan. But at the end of the day, I feel it's all about execution. If you have a certain plan set, when you execute it well, you come out triumphant."
Punjab bowling coach James Hopes said there was no reason to panic.
"It's a reality check, and that's exactly what it is," Hopes said.
"It's game eight, and we've just lost our first game of the IPL, so I'm not going to sit here and say it's doom and gloom in the change room."
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford)
