Shreyas Iyer (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) NEW DELHI: Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer left everyone awestruck with a remarkable display of athleticism on the boundary ropes, drawing stunned reactions not only from the fans but also from the Mumbai Indians dug-out where Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav watched in disbelief.The moment came in the 18th over of the IPL 2026 clash between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday when Hardik Pandya smashed Marc Jansen towards long-on.What followed was pure sporting brilliance. Iyer quickly sprinted to his left and tracked the ball to perfection near the boundary rope. Realizing that he was about to lose his balance and overstep, he improvised in the air, caught the ball with a back cup and returned it in mid-air.Xavier Bartlett, stationed nearby, completed the catch safely. While Bartlett’s name got on the scoresheet, the effort was entirely Iyer’s creation.After a stunning effort, Iyer celebrated in style.After Punjab Kings’ seven-wicket win, Ian Bishop asked Iyer, “At one stage Mumbai were looking for 200+, which was the key to getting things back.”Iyer said nothing and said “I think my catch (laughs)”.Prabhsimran Singh and Iyer hit fluent fifties as Punjab Kings continued their winning run with an impressive seven-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians, who slumped to their fourth straight defeat in IPL 2026.Chasing 196, Punjab Kings reached 198/3 with 21 balls to spare as the Mumbai Indians bowlers struggled collectively, with AM Ghazanfar’s 2/31 being the only performance of note.“Confident and optimistic about the future. We played phenomenally. We know every match is important, it’s a collective effort, we’re happy to get a comprehensive win. Prabhsimran has raised his bar considering last season when he was swinging wildly, running and had excellent starts. Now he’s matured and he’s finishing matches. He’s maturing with every match,” Iyer said after the match.“My catch was the key to pulling things back (laughs) but we tend to do that. We did that against SRH as well. We have to be present and enjoy the moment. We haven’t decided how to set the totals, so far we have been lucky to win the toss. We have a lot of positive players who are ready to go out and express themselves. You have to improve every game, focus on how you have held on the recipe we’ve seen and I’m The fan following is on the rise, it’s great to see the fans shower their love,” he said.Punjab Kings will next face Lucknow Super Giants on April 19.
