Picture : @IPL/X
Already out of the tournament Mumbai Indians have made things tough for Punjab Kings as they beat them by six wickets in Tata IPl 2026 encounter in Dharamsala. It was Punjab Kings fifth straight loss and dents their play- offs hopes somewhat .
Stnading in as skipper in place of Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah Captained MI in this encounter. And after winning the toss opted to bowl first . Punjab lost inform opener Priyansh Arya early for 22 , Cooper Connolly 21 , Skipper Shreyas Iyer 4. Prabhsimran Singh was the lone star at the top of the order with 57 ( 32 balls , 6 fours, 4 sixes).
Punjab were at one stage 107-2, 11.2 overs but collapsed to reach 135-6, 14.4 overs . Suryansh Shedge 8, Shashank Singh struggle continued out for 2 , Marco Jansen 2 . Thanks to late cameo by Afgan star Azmatullah Omarzai 38 ( 17 balls , 2 fours, 4 sixes) , Vishnu Vinod 15 not out ( 8 balls 1 four 1 six) and seamer Xavier Bartlett 18 ( 7 balls , 2 fours 1 six) saw Punjab battling hard to reach a somewhat defendable total of 200/8 in their 20 overs
Mumbai Indians Bowling : Deepak Chahar 2/36 ( 4 overs), Jasprit Bumrah 0/35 ( 4 overs), Shardul Thakur 4/39 ( 4 overs), Corbin Bosch 1/42 ( 4 overs), Raghu Sharma 0/22 ( 2 overs), Will Jacks 0/9 ( 1 over), Raj Bawa 1/11 ( 1 over)
In reply to 201. South African opener Ryan Rickelton led the chase along with Rohit Sharma . The duo put on 61-1, 6.3 overs. Rohit was first out for 25 ( 26 balls 2 sixes). Naman Dhir was second to go dismissed cheaply for 9 . When Rohit the third out the MI score read 88-3, 9.3 overs .
Ryan Rickelton was in aggressive mode and looked set for big one but was out after a blazing 48 ( 23 balls 4 fours , 4 sixes) , Sherfane Rutherford chipped in with 20( 21 balls , 1 four, 1 six). However, The man who took the game away from Punjab Kings was Tilak Varma. Tilak produced a stunning innings to shock Punjab and remained unbetaen on 73 ( 33 balls , 6 fours, 6 sixes). Will Jacks was the other batsmen not out with 25 ( 10 balls , 2 fours 2 sixes) as MI reach 205 /4 in 19.5 overs. A narrow win with one ball to spare at the end .
Punjab Kings Bowling : Arshdeep Singh 0/29 ( 4 overs), Azmatullah Omarzai 2/26 ( 4 overs), Marco Jansen 1/55 ( 4 overs) was a huge let down. So too was Xavier Bartlett 0/53 ( 3.5 overs), Yuzvendra Chahal 1/32 ( 4 overs)
Punjab Kings now have to win their remaining two matches is they wish to reach the play-offs. It’s now or never. The animated chat between Punjab Kings co- owner Preity Zinta and Head coach Ricky Ponting after the match clearly showed the pressure the Punjab Kings have put themseolves on and their progess now rests on other team’s show as well. 5 losses has taken away the super start to their campaign.
Match: IPL 2026, 58th Match
Venue: Dharamsala | Date: May 14, 2026
