Punjab Kings (PBKS) can knock off 200-plus chases without fuss, and if they bat first – as they did for the first time this season on Sunday against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) – they put up record numbers. But cricket matches, whatever the format, are not won by the batters alone. It’s their less spoken-about suit, but PBKS have also put together a pretty stellar bowling attack, one that can attack, but has sparkled as a defensive unit this season.
They have so far bowled Gujarat Titans (GT) out for 162, and stopped Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on 209 for 5, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on 219 for 6, and Mumbai Indians (MI) on 195 for 6. Those are not small totals, bar GT’s effort, but this is a big-scoring IPL.
“You have to look at what they have in their team. It’s not a team that is lacking offensive skill sets. [And] their skill sets can go defensive,” Faf du Plessis said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show after PBKS beat LSG by 54 runs. “But you look at the names in that bowling attack, it’s all frontline attacking bowlers – Marco Jansen, [Xavier] Bartlett, Arshdeep [Singh]. It is all genuine wicket-takers with the new ball there, with the skill set of swinging the ball; tall bowlers getting bounce; Arshdeep is a good yorker bowler with the new ball. So it’s not by chance that they are one of the better bowling units.”
But wicket-taking hasn’t been their forte – perhaps even their focus – this season.
Playing in high-scoring conditions, they have been low on a couple of bowling parameters: eighth in terms of wickets tally, ninth in terms of strike rate as a unit. But they have switched to a defensive line of attack, so to say, early on in their bowling innings, and have a decent economy rate of 9.64. Not the best. But impressive in conditions where their batters have looked like scoring a lot more than their opponents.
For context, in their five completed matches this season, all of which PBKS have won, their bowlers have had a combined economy rate of 9.75. In those games, their opponents have gone at 11.22.
“They can switch to defensive, but also, as a batter, if you are fronting up against them, you feel like they can get you out at any stage as well”
Faf du Plessis
“They can switch to defensive, but also, as a batter, if you are fronting up against them, you feel like they can get you out at any stage as well,” du Plessis said. “Guys like [Vijaykumar] Vyshak can them come in and do their thing. [Yuzvendra] Chahal is an attacking spinner. Yes, he can be defensive, but his method is he gets wickets.
“When we are talking about putting bowling attacks together, you want variety. As a captain, you’ve got all the different guns at your disposal that you can just pull the trigger at different stages and that’s what gives them very, very great variety in their bowling attack.”
There are 13 bowlers with seven or more wickets in IPL 2026 at the moment, and none of them are from PBKS. But none of their primary bowlers – Jansen, Arshdeep and Chahal – have gone at over 9.58 (Chahal); Vyshak is more expensive at 10.05, but he is their joint-highest wicket-taker (six) with Arshdeep; Bartlett, more of an allrounder, has gone at 10.52.
“I think they have the capability to do both,” Ambati Rayudu said. “They have everything in their arsenal and also they have the knowhow of what to do – that is the biggest factor when you look at the IPL and the bowling units. I think these guys have a much more mature, confident, as well as skilful bowling unit compared to many other teams.”
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