Preity Zinta holds tense discussion with Shreyas Iyer as PBKS' alarming decline continues: 'Seemingly grilling'

In what was reminiscent of Sanjiv Goenka publicly criticising KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant, Punjab Kings co-owner Preity Zinta was seen having a serious discussion with captain Shreyas Iyer on Sunday as the team suffered a sixth consecutive defeat in IPL 2026.

PBKS have been stuck on 13 points for a month now, and their playoff qualification chances have now come down to 31% from what earlier looked like a formality. The Ricky Ponting-coached side has been facing fire on multiple fronts.

Preity Zinta-Shreyas Iyer meeting

Their fielding has been one of the poorest in the IPL 2026, and so has been their death bowling. PBKS packs a lot of punch in their batting, but a lack of effort from other departments and the inability to handle the nerves have derailed their season. The social media controversies have not helped either.

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Amid the whole drama, Preity Zinta was caught having a word or two with captain Iyer on the sidelines after Punjab lost by 23 runs to Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Dharamsala. It's not clear what was discussed, but it reminded us of the public rebuking Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka gave to his former captain KL Rahul in the past and the discussion he had with current skipper Rishabh Pant earlier this season.

Some fans felt that Preity Zinta was "seemingly grilling" Shreyas Iyer for the team's poor performance.

After losing to RCB, Iyer blamed the early loss of wickets in the powerplay as PBKS were restricted to 199/8 while chasing 223.

"We were three down and the majority of our run scorers were Prabhsimran and Priyansh. The starts they used to give us in the powerplay, obviously we couldn’t get this time and also me coming in and getting out early," Iyer said. "Really disappointed, but commendable performance by Shashank and Stoinis and also a few others in the middle. I think we were up there with almost 10 an over, but yeah, fell short."

Punjab's last match is against LSG on Saturday, and a defeat there would surely close the chapter for them.