IPL 2026: Prabhsiman, Iyer fifties help PBKS thrash MI as De Kock ton goes in vain (Ld)

Mumbai, April 16 (IANS) Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer struck their second successive half-centuries and shared a 139-run partnership for the third wicket as Punjab Kings cruised to a seven-wicket win with 21 balls to spare against the Mumbai Indians in Match 24 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

Iyer read the pitch correctly and inserted MI in to bat first on a wicket that had a slight tinge of grass and some help for the pacers. With Mumbai deciding to rest Rohit Sharma for the hamstring injury he suffered in the previous match, Quinton de Kock stepped into the opener’s role and carried his bat through for his first century of IPL 2026. He smashed 112 not out off 60 balls, and with Naman Dhir contributing 50 from 31 balls, helped Mumbai Indians reach 195/6 after slumping to 12/2 in the third over.

But their heroics were topped by Prabhsimran and Shreyas as they batted beautifully to help PBKS to victory.

Prabhsimran and Shreyas Iyer had scored half-centuries to help PBKS beat Sunrisers Hyderabad a couple of days back, and on Thursday, they mastered another chase with the former hammering 80 not out of 39 balls and the latter scoring 66 off 35 as PBKS reached 198/3 in 16.3 overs.

While Prabhsimran scored his second fifty of IPL 2026, Iyer hammered his third successive half-century in the tournament, but this one would be more satisfying for him as it came at his home ground and against a team that had three members of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team, for which he was not considered.

With this win, PBKS surged to the top of the points table with nine points, while the Mumbai Indians remained on two points from one win and four defeats.

Chasing a challenging target of 196, the Punjab Kings were off to Priyansh Arya (15) and Cooper Connolly (17) with 45 runs on the board. Impact Substitute AM Ghazanfar accounted for both of them to raise hopes for Mumbai.

But Prabhsimran and Iyer rescued them from the difficult position to put them on course to victory, sharing a massive partnership. They seem to have picked up from where they left off against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the Mumbai Indians pay for their fielding lapses, three dropped catches.

Prabhsimran was in brilliant form as he played shots all around the ground, timing the ball sweetly and kept the chase going. He had a slice of luck early on when Jasprit Bumrah dropped an easy chance off Hardik Pandya.

Prabhsimran started with back-to-back fours off Chahar in the first over, followed that up with a six and four off the pacer in the eighth over; hammered Hardik Pandya for successive boundaries in the 10th over and struck the MI captain four and six in the 14th over. Ghazanfar and Shardul Thakur, too, were treated for boundaries as he reached his fifty off 23 balls as PBKS cruised towards the target.

Iyer, who picked a sensational catch to dismiss his counterpart, played able foil to his partner early on before blazing some brilliant shots towards the end of his knock, reaching his half-century in 31 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes.

With PBKS needing 35 runs from 36 balls, Iyer struck Bumrah for a couple of boundaries before smashing Shadrul Thakur for sixes off successive balls in the 16th over after being dropped by Naman Dhir in deep once. Shardul and Dhir had the last laugh when they ended Iyer’s sensational knock. Dhir picked a superb catch to make up for his earlier mistake, but the match was as good as over by that time. Iyer scored 66 off 35 balls, smashing five fours and four sixes.

Earlier, asked to bat first, Mumbai rode on a brilliant innings by De Kock and looked to score in excess of 200 before PBKS pulled things back a bit.

With Rohit Sharma missing the match after failing to fully recover from a hamstring injury he suffered in the previous match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the Mumbai Indians were off to a poor start, slumping to 12/2 with Arshdeep Singh landing twin blows off successive balls, sending back Rickelton and India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav for a first-ball duck.

Rickelton (2) was the first to go, smashing a length-ball on his pads straight down the throat of Shashing Singh at deep backward square leg. He was Arshdeep Singh’s 100th victim in the IPL 87th match. The lanky left-arm medium pacer made it 101 wickets when he swung one off the length, and Suryakuamr Yadav drove it straight to Yuzvendra Chahal.

De Kock took over after that and, with Naman Dhir playing an able foil, capitalised on the short boundaries. They exploded into action in the last over of the Power-play and maintained the tempo thereafter.

The seasoned South African, who had lost out to his compatriot Rickelton and missed the first four matches, scored a brilliant century off 53 balls, hitting seven boundaries and as many sixes, reaching his century in his first match for the Mumbai Indians.

De Kock was the more adventurous against Yuzi Chahal and made the most of the run-out opportunity that Shreyas Iyer missed, unable to execute a direct hit. QDK, who started with a superb six off the first ball he aced, reached his fifty off 28 balls. He was quite severe on Chahal, smashing him for a couple of sixes.

Dhir, who was promoted to No.4 and enjoyed a slice of luck when put down by Chahal early in his knock, hammered a half-century, making the most of his chance. He smashed Vijaykumar Vyshak for the two fours and a six off the last over of Power-play. They then smashed Chahal for two sixes and a four as they raised 100 runs off their partnership. Dhir completed his fifty off.

De Kock continued to prosper; he stepped up a gear after completing his half-century, smashing Shashank Singh for back-to-back sixes and reaching the three-figure mark in 53 balls, smashing seven fours and as many sixes in his superb knock.

Mumbai lost skipper Hardik Pandya (14 of 12) to a spectacular catch orchestrated by PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer, who leapt into the air, caught the ball with the tip of his left hand, exchanged it to his throwing arm and lobbed it in inside the field while in the air outside the rope for Xavier Bartlett to complete the catch. The sensation catch, which he celebrated in front of his home crowd animatedly, would be listed among the best of this season and helped PBKS restrict the Mumbai Indians to below 200.

The Mumbai Indians also did not help their cause by dropping three catches in all. Bumrah’s horrendous tournament continued as he went wicketless once again and also dropped a catch off Prabhsimran Singh.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians 195/6 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 112 not out, Naman Dhir 50; Arshdeep Singh 3-22) lost to Punjab Kings 198/3 in 16.3 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 80 not out, Shreyas Iyer 66; AM Ghazanfar 2-31) by seven wickets.

–IANS

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