MUMBAI INDIANS beat Punjab Kings by six wickets in the IPL on Thursday as Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 75 off 33 balls guided the side home with one ball to spare in Dharamsala.
Jasprit Bumrah made a winning start as Mumbai captain in the absence of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav. Varma led the chase after Mumbai slipped to 88-3, helping the team reach 205-4 in reply to Punjab’s 200-8.
Varma hit six sixes and was supported by Will Jacks, who remained unbeaten on 25. The pair added 56 runs off 20 balls to seal the win.
Earlier, Punjab recovered from a middle-order collapse to post 200-8 after Shardul Thakur claimed 4-39.
"One from one," said Bumrah. "Both teams played good cricket and we really pulled it back well."
Punjab suffered a fifth straight defeat and now need to win both their remaining matches to keep their playoff hopes alive. The team remain fourth in the table, while Mumbai are ninth with four wins in 12 matches.
"It is a tough pill to swallow," said Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer. "But it was a great game of cricket and a well-fought game."
Punjab made a quick start after being put into bat, with the openers adding 50 runs in 33 balls.
Prabhsimran Singh hit four sixes in his 50 off 29 balls and shared a 57-run stand from 35 balls with Cooper Connolly, who made 21.
Thakur then slowed Punjab’s progress by taking four wickets in three overs. He had Prabhsimran caught in the 12th over and bowled Iyer two balls later.
Punjab then lost wickets quickly as Raj Bawa dismissed Connolly. The side lost six wickets for 33 runs and slipped to 140-7.
Azmatullah Omarzai then helped Punjab recover with 38 off 17 balls. Punjab added 63 runs in the final three overs. Omarzai struck 19 runs in the 18th over, while Xavier Bartlett hit 22 and 12 runs in the final two overs as the pair struck four sixes between them.
Bumrah went wicketless and conceded 35 runs in his four overs.
Mumbai began their chase quickly through Ryan Rickelton, who made 48 off 23 balls with four sixes. He and Rohit Sharma, who scored 25, added 61 runs in 39 balls.
Omarzai struck twice for Punjab, dismissing Rickelton and later Sherfane Rutherford for 20 after a 61-run partnership with Varma.
Yuzvendra Chahal kept things tight early on with his wrist spin on a slowing pitch before Varma counter-attacked and brought up his fifty off 25 balls.
Varma and Jacks then took Mumbai to victory.
"Azmat changed the game when we were only looking at 170-180," said Iyer.
"But Tilak selected his shots well and manoeuvred the field nicely."
