Tilak Varma kept up with a mounting asking rate and stood till the end to get Mumbai Indians a six-wicket victory over Punjab Kings at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala on Thursday.
For a second straight game, PBKS squandered a defense from a winning position, which extended its losing run to five games and thus delivering a gut-punch to its Playoffs hopes.
The home side was the favorite with five overs left and MI needing 72 runs. But MI truly started believing after Tilak and Sherfane Ruthurford hit Yuzvendra Chahal for 20 runs in the 16th over, which included an inventive switch hit past short fine.
Tilak added another 16 in boundaries in a 22-run over that nudged Mumbai even closer. He started with a pummel over midwicket for six before depositing two hits past the bowler for 10 runs.
Will Jacks hit sixes off the first balls of the penultimate and final overs and eased Tilak’s work. With eight needed off the last three, the southpaw dutifully picked two successive boundaries to seal the result.
But the win was also to be attributed to Ryan Rickelton, who handed Mumbai the ideal lift off with a 14-run attack against Marco Jansen. However, his 23-ball 48 was also aided by Punjab bowlers over-pitching and straying on his pads.
All three of his heaves off Jansen, and another couple against Xavier Bartlett were picked between long on and deep square leg.
This inclination to go towards the on-side cost him once the field spread out as Azmatullah Omarzai got him to pick deep backward square leg off a whip.
The tide was slowly turning in PBKS’ favor as Naman Dhir and Rohit Sharma fell in successive overs. But Tilak built partnerships with Rutherford and Jacks to eventually make sure Mumbai’s innings did not end up a lost cause.
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In the first innings, PBKS had to strive hard for its 200 and got there only because of Omarzai’s late on-sided assault.
Shardul Thakur’s hit-the-deck approach got him four for 39 on the day, and sent the Kings’ innings into a tailspin. The host lost six wickets for 33 runs in 30 deliveries through the middle overs and even faced the prospect of being bowled out before 20 overs.
But Omarzai picked Shardul and Corbin Bosch over mid-wicket for boundaries, before getting another 18 off Deepak Chahar in the 18th over to change the course of the innings. A few freewheeling slogs from Impact Sub Vishnu Vinod and Xavier Bartlett in the final two overs were enough to get the side past 200 runs.
Prabhsimran Singh made the most of two reprieves, on five and 28, to hand Punjab a platform. Leg-spinner Raghu Sharma bore the heaviest brunt. Off slightly over-pitched deliveries, Prabhsimran launched his slog sweep off successive deliveries and cleared deep midwicket.
But Shardul dragged the Indians back into the game with two wickets – Prabhsimran and Shreyas Iyer – in three balls. Raj Angad Bawa tightened the nose. He first castled Cooper Connolly and then took a blinder at short mid-wicket to account for Suryansh Shedge.
Shashank Singh, leg before off Bosch, and Marco Jansen, cleaned up by Shardul, were undone by the low, skiddy bounce of the surface. But just when Punjab seemed to be meeting a flat end, Omarzai sparked life into the contest and kept his team in the hunt.
Published on May 14, 2026
