Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody questioned Shreyas Iyer’s shot selection after PBKS suffered an eight-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the first qualifier of IPL 2025 at New Chandigarh on Thursday.

Iyer was dismissed after scoring only two runs against Josh Hazlewood as he got an outside edge while trying to play a big shot. PBKS had already lost wickets of both of their openers – Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya – and Iyer should have been a bit more cautious with his shot selection. This was the fourth time when Hazlewood dismissed Iyer in the IPL.

“The first ball he played and missed – the perfect line that you’d expect Hazlewood to bowl. He sort of played at it, but didn’t really want to play at it. And then, that third ball he got out. To me, he totally misread the game situation and his own situation. Yes, he would be aware that Hazlewood has had him a few times in the past. He would know the exact numbers,” Tom Moody said on ESPN Cricinfo.

The former SRH head coach said Iyer should have tried to play Hazlewood with caution and he could have taken the attack against other bowlers.

“At times, you need to put your ego in your pocket and just move forward. To me that was the perfect example of not reading the situation – trying to overcome something that has been a darkness in the past instead of just swallowing your pride and just moving on by just accumulating. You only had to see Hazlewood out. It was a simple thing – see him out and look to dissect the rest of their attack.”

PBKS were bundled out for a paltry score of 101 and they could not put up a fight with the bat. Punjab Kings will face the winners of Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians’ eliminator contest in the second qualifier on Sunday.