In match no.58 of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, Mumbai Indians (MI) spoiled the playoff party of Punjab Kings (PBKS), taking their revenge over Shreyas Iyer’s side at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala. The five-time champions handed the Kings their fifth defeat in a row. It was a Tilak Varma special for Mumbai on the night.
Mumbai Indians, who came into the game with a new captain, Jasprit Bumrah, as Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav both were not playing the game due to different reasons. Bumrah won the toss and elected to bowl first as they brought in Shardul Thakur and Sherfane Rutherford. PBKS brought in three players, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, and Azmatullah Omarzai.
PBKS fell short of 20 runs
Being asked to bat first, Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya had a 50-run partnership between them as the latter could not get going and was back after scoring 22 runs. The latter brought up his half-century in 29 deliveries. But he was dismissed on the score of 57 runs. PBKS lost three wickets in the span of four runs.
After the score looked over 220, it was reduced to 200 runs, and thanks to the innings from Azmat Omarzai, who scored a valuable 38 runs in the middle phase, and towards the end, Vishnu scored 15 off 8, and Bartlett scored 18 from 7 balls, helping PBKS post a 201-run target. They were 15-20 runs short after the first innings.
Tilak Varma seals the game for Mumbai
Coming to chase, Ryan Rickelton went all guns blazing, playing a fiery knock of 48 runs. Rohit Sharma, who was struggling to score runs, was back scoring 25 runs off 26 balls. Naman Dhir also could not get going and scored 9 runs. PBKS were well ahead in the game before Tilak Varma went berserk.
Tilak Varma was excellent as he brought his fifty in 25 balls and kept on his carnage. He was unbeaten till the end and won the game for his side. Tilak Varma was unbeaten with the score of 75* off 33 deliveries, smashing 6 fours and as many sixes. The Southpaw was supported by Will Jacks who played a knock of 25* off 10.
Will’s innings helped finish the game- Tilak Varma
Tilak was the player of the match for his exceptional innings. He had an up-and-down season, scoring a century and then a low score. This knock from Tilak Varma will give confidence in the business end of the season with two more matches to be played.
Tilak said, “To be honest, I do like to finish games, but having played the WC and some international games, I’ve come to know how to finish the games. We didn’t expect the wicket to be like this, the ball was slow and low, it wasn’t easy to play shots. We saw how PBKS struggled in the first 15 overs, them Azamatullah and Vishnu Vinod took them to a good score.”
“I thought I would take the game deep. I spoke to the coach at the second break; I just needed one big over and I could finish the game. Will’s innings helped finish the game, I just told him to hold shape and hold the shape.”
“Just wait for the slower one, the altitude here helps the ball fly and you don’t need to blindly slog. I just told him to maintain his shape and watch out for the slower ones.”