NEW DELHI: Punjab Kings (PBKS) suffered their fifth straight defeat in IPL 2026 as Mumbai Indians (MI) registered a six-wicket win in a crucial clash in Dharamsala on Thursday. Shardul Thakur’s four-wicket haul and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 75 helped Mumbai chase down 201 in 19.5 overs and further dented Punjab’s playoff hopes.Punjab batted first after being put in and got off to a very good start thanks to Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh. The pair added 50 runs in 33 balls to take the over to 55 for 1. Priyansh made 27 before Deepak Chahar cleaned him up in the sixth over.Prabhsimran then added another 57 runs with Cooper Connolly as Punjab crossed the 100-run mark in the 12th over. The opener made 57 and reached his fifty with a single before hitting another six off Shardul Thakur over backward square leg.However, Mumbai defended strongly in the middle overs. Shardul, who conceded 15 runs in his first over, removed Prabhsimran and skipper Shreyas Iyer (4) in three overs to shift the momentum.Most wins in 200+ runs in T20s
- 11 Kings of Punjab
- 8 Mumbai Indians *
- 7 Australia/ Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Raj Bawa also contributed by dismissing Connolly and then taking a sharp catch at short midwicket to remove Suryansh Shedge off Shardul’s bowling. Punjab kept losing wickets as Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen departed cheaply.Despite the collapse, Azmatullah Omarzai played an important role in the death operations. He scored 38 off 17 balls with two sixes and a four. Vishnu Vinod and Xavier Bartlett also chipped in as Punjab piled on 53 runs in the last three overs to finish at 200 for 8.For Mumbai, Deepak Chahar took 2 for 36 while Shardul finished with 4 for 39.Chasing 201, Mumbai started aggressively through Ryan Rickelton, who attacked from the start despite Rohit Sharma struggling at the other end. Rickelton smashed 48 off 23 balls with four fours and four sixes as Mumbai raced to 59 for no loss.Punjab pulled things back briefly after removing Rickelton, Naman Dhir and Rohit Sharma. Yuzvendra Chahal bowled a tight spell and dismissed Rohit as Mumbai slumped to 89 for 3.Tilak Varma then leveled the innings. He added 61 runs with Sherfane Rutherford scoring 20 before taking over in the final overs. Punjab had a chance to dismiss Tilak but Marco Jansen dropped a tough catch off the bowling of Arshdeep Singh.Needing 72 from the last five overs, Tilak and Rutherford attacked Chahal and conceded 20 runs in one over. Even after the fall of Rutherford, Tilak confidently continued the pursuit.He hit Marc Jansen for two sixes and a four in the 18th over for 22 runs and put Mumbai ahead in the game. Needing 15 runs in the final over, Tilak completed the chase with two sixes.Tilak remained unbeaten on 75 off 33 balls as Mumbai reached 201 for 4 in 19.5 overs.The defeat left Punjab needing to win both their remaining matches to stay alive in the play-off race.
