Netizens didn’t hold back and bashed the Punjab Kings as they were reduced to 49 with the loss of three wickets against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The Kings hosted the Royal Challengers in a rematch of their IPL 2025 Final clash at the serene HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Sunday, May 17. Home skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and invited the defending champions to put the score on the board first. The Bengaluru-based franchise, who was coming off two consecutive wins, got off to a poor start and lost their opener Jacob Bethell early.

However, riding on Virat Kohli’s 37-ball 58, followed by Devdutt Padikkal and Venkatesh Iyer’s 45 and 73* respectively, posted 222 runs with the loss of four wickets. In return, the Kings, seeking to end their five-game losing streak, had an embarrassing start. After losing opener Priyansh Arya on a three-ball duck, Prabhsimran Singh was forced to walk back at 2 (5).

In addition, skipper Shreyas Iyer couldn’t do much and just like that top three batters for the Kings’ side were back in the dugout within the powerplay. In fact, by the end of the six overs, the previous year’s finalists were reduced to 49/3.

Netizens react to PBKS’ poor batting prowess against RCB

Needless to say, fans were left berserk with the poor batting effort by the Punjab Kings, that too, in a do-or-die game. Here’s how they reacted-

At the time of writing, the PBKS were 69-4 at 8.1 overs with Suryansh Shedge batting at 20 (13) and Marcus Stoinis at 6 (3).