India, May 17 -- Moments after play ended, Ricky Ponting sat all by himself in the dugout, head slumped in his arms and eyes staring ahead. Shreyas Iyer, for a change through the evening, wore a smile with the mic in hand.

"There's always light at the end of the tunnel," he said. Ponting and Iyer, coach and captain of Punjab Kings (PBKS), must be left pondering how they got stuck in this tunnel in the first place.

It has turned so dark, after their 23-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)-the champions became the first team to qualify for the IPL playoffs-that the wheels of a once unbeatable joyride appear to have come off.

This has been one of the most astonishing collapses of any team in any tournament. Their sixth defeat o...