PBKS vs MI, IPL 2026: Our destiny is still in our hands, says Haddin as PBKS playoff hopes hang by a thread
Punjab Kings batting coach Brad Haddin lamented his team’s lack of composure in pressure situations during its six-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians in Dharamshala on Thursday.
“I think the pressure stays the whole time, more so at this stage of the tournament. This is what IPL cricket is about. You’ve got to be able to handle the big moments. It’s important to respond well [from here]. There are good signs out of tonight’s match. The result is hurting and the change room is hurting, but we were beaten by really good innings from Tilak Varma,” he said after the defeat.
Tilak notched up an unbeaten 75 off 33 deliveries to help Mumbai Indians scale the last 72 runs off the 201-run target in the last five overs.
The result, PBKS’ fifth straight loss of the season, was catastrophic for its Playoffs hopes. The Shreyas Iyer-led team needs to win both its games now and hope two of the other contenders – Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals – slip up too.
READ | Tilak, Jacks break Punjab Kings hearts as Mumbai Indians secures consolation win
Haddin emphasised the need to focus on the positives and find a way out of the rut his team seems to be stuck in.
“We are going to take what we did well out of tonight and take that over into our preparation, and [also] have a look at what things we can improve on. We’ve got to find a way to get out of the rut we are in at the moment. We’ve still got two games to go. The one thing is that our destiny is still in our hands. We have to find a way. We’ve got to assess this quickly and get our head around playing a day game here in a couple of days’ time,” he said.
PBKS players were scrutinised for their discipline and lack of motivation on social media leading up to this game. But Haddin refused to pin the lapses on the field to outside speculation.
“The dressing room is good. I’m not up with social media, so I don’t know what the situation is there.
“But from inside the camp, we’ve just got to find a way to win a cricket game. Whatever the external noise is, that’s part of playing a professional sport. It’s not always just about the field. You’ve got to deal with everything outside it,” Haddin said.
On Thursday, the momentum shifted in the 16th over of the innings. Yuzvendra Chahal, who had conceded just 12 runs off his first three overs, was picked for 20 runs, allowing the Indians to put pressure on PBKS’ already under-fire death bowling.
“We were comfortable with what [score] we had. I thought we did really well to get to the total we did. Mumbai bowled well. We had some really good hitting at the back end of the game to get us to what we thought was a really good total. We felt like we were in control of the game to the last three overs.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in every bowler in our squad. What you do see in this tournament is some unbelievable power. It’s different from what we’re used to. Two hundred used to be a really, really good score. And now it’s a score teams aren’t intimidated by,” Haddin said.
Published on May 15, 2026
