Dharamsala, May 17 -- Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) became the first team in the IPL 2026 to qualify for the playoffs after defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 23 runs in a run fest at the HPCA Stadium here on Sunday.

The Shreyas Iyer-led PBKS suffered their sixth consecutive defeat when they failed to chase a 223-run target after a poor outing from the top-order batters.

Chasing the big target, PBKS started with the explosive batting duo of Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya. Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided the first breakthrough for his side in the first over when Arya gave a catch to Romario Shepherd and went back to the pavilion without making any runs.

Bhuvneshwar struck again in his next over when the in-form Prabshimran lost his wi...