Already out of the play-off race, Mumbai Indians beat Punjab Kings by six wickets in their IPL 2026 match in Dharamsala on Thursday. While MI had nothing to lose, the defeat left Punjab staring at a tough road in the race for the top four as they suffered their fifth straight defeat.After the match, Mumbai Indians pacer Shardul Thakur made a remark that quickly went viral on social media when he talked about his record against Punjab over the years.In a video shared by Mumbai Indians on social media, a person asked Shardul about his performances against Punjab when he played for different franchises.“You took so many wickets against Punjab,” said the person.To this Shardul replied, “I was detained and sent home. It’s rage!”Shardul had another strong game against Punjab on Thursday, finishing with figures of 4 for 39. His spell helped Mumbai pull things back after Punjab got off to a good start.Punjab eventually posted 200 for 8 after being asked to bat first. Prabhsimran Singh scored 57 while Priyansh Arya 27. In the same spell, Shardul dismissed Prabhsimran and skipper Shreyas Iyer to put Punjab under pressure.Deepak Chahar (2/36), Corbin Bosch (1/42) and Raj Bawa (1/11) were the other wickets for MI.In reply, Tilak Varma remained unbeaten on 75 off 33 balls as Mumbai chased down a target of 201 with one ball to spare. Will Jacks was not out on 25 off 10 balls as MI reached 205 for 4 in 19.5 overs. Azmatullah Omarzai took 2 for 36 for Punjab.Shardul’s comment appeared to refer to his time with Kings XI Punjab, now called the Punjab Kings.The fast bowler was bought by the franchise in the IPL auction in 2014 and he stayed with them for three seasons. However, he played only one match during this period, against Delhi Daredevils in 2015.During the 2016 IPL season, Punjab released him midway through the tournament. At the time, Shardul had just finished as Mumbai’s highest wicket-taker in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy-winning season.A frustrated Shardul then wrote on X, earlier Twitter, “Tomorrow I will play semi final t20 match for my club payyade sc.. play game after 2 months..ipl has done wonders .. for sure”.
