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In Match No. 58 of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, Mumbai Indians (MI) spoiled the playoff party of Punjab Kings (PBKS) as they took their revenge on Shreyas Iyer’s team at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala. The five-time champions handed the Kings their fifth consecutive defeat. This night was Tilak Verma special for Mumbai.
Mumbai Indians, who came into the game with new captain, Jasprit Bumrah, had both Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav not playing the game for different reasons. Bumrah won the toss and decided to bowl first and brought in Shardul Thakur and Sherfane Rutherford. PBKS brought in three players, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod and Azmatullah Omarzai.
PBKS missed by 20 runs
Asked to bat first, Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya made a 50-run partnership, but Priyansh could not carry on and returned after scoring 22 runs. The latter completed his half-century in 29 balls. But he was out 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 of Azmat Umarzai, who scored valuable 38 runs in the middle stage, and in the end, Vishnu scored 15 off 8, and Bartlett scored 18 off 7 balls, helping PBKS set the target of 201 runs. After the first innings they were behind by 15-20 runs.
Tilak Verma won the game for Mumbai
Ryan Rickelton, who came to chase the target, played a brilliant inning of 48 runs. Rohit Sharma, who was struggling to score runs, came back after scoring 25 runs in 26 balls. Naman Dheer also could not walk and scored 9 runs. PBKS were well ahead of the game before Tilak Verma went on the offensive.
Tilak Verma was excellent as he completed his half-century in 25 balls and continued his exploits. He remained unbeaten till the end and won the game for his team. Tilak Verma remained unbeaten after scoring 75* runs in 33 balls with the help of 6 fours and as many sixes. The southpaw was supported by Will Jacques who scored 25* off 10 balls.
Will’s innings helped in ending the game – Tilak Verma
Tilak was the player of the match for his extraordinary innings. He had an up-and-down season, scoring centuries and then scoring less. This innings of Tilak Verma will give confidence in the business end of the season, with two more matches to be played.
Tilak said, “To be honest, I like to finish games, but after playing the World Cup and a few international games, I have learned how to finish games. We did not expect the wicket to be like this, the ball was slow and low, playing shots was not easy. We saw how PBKS struggled in the first 15 overs, Azmatullah 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 stay in shape and keep the shape.”
“Just wait for the slow pace, the height here helps the ball fly and you don’t need to push blindly. I just told him to maintain his form and be careful of the slow balls.”
ALSO READ: “Played amazing”: PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer hails Tilak Verma’s game-changing innings after defeat vs MI
