The Punjab Kings (PBKS) had possibly their finest IPL season in more than ten years last year, but they lost at the very end. They appear committed to going one step further in the early going of IPL 2026, continuing their winning streak against the unfortunate Mumbai Indians on Thursday at Wankhede Stadium.
Prabhsimran excels
A platform created by one of PBKS' openers at the top of the order was the key to each of their three IPL 2026 victories prior to Thursday. Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya's partner, came up with a 25-ball 51 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday after Arya had stolen the show against Chennai Super Kings.In an innings that featured 11 fours and two sixes, the right-hander smashed his way to an undefeated 80 runs off 39 balls on Thursday, giving the five-time champions a historic fourth straight loss of the season.
With two boundaries in the first over, Prabhsimran's innings got off to a fast start. If Jasprit Bumrah had held onto a catch at backward point from Hardik Pandya's bowling in the fourth over when he was on eleven, those might have been his best batting moments.
MI had to pay for that drop thanks to the wicketkeeper-batter. It was up to Prabhsimran to construct the innings after Allah Ghazanfar cheaply dismissed his opening companion, Arya, in the second over.

The right-hander raised the stakes in the chase with a six and a four over long-off and towards fine leg, but Deepak Chahar hasn't looked like the bowler he once was. The surge against Chahar had given the wicketkeeper the boost he needed for his innings, but Hardik Pandya made a comeback in the tenth over.
He hit Pandya for two boundaries to advance the PBKS innings and force MI to look for ways to gain ground outside of Ghazanfar.
The 50 came up in the next over, and the right-hander had enough of opportunities to score runs on a flat pitch against an assault that appeared to be losing strength with every over.

Prabhsimran's early-season consistency should bode well for the team, even though Shreyas Iyer is undoubtedly the batter that opponents aim to eliminate first. Last year, he had his most successful season with the bat, scoring 549 runs at a strike rate of 160.53 in 17 games and helping PBKS advance to the final.
PBKS can anticipate that their explosive opening batter will either match or surpass that number in IPL 2026 if the early going is any indication.Arshdeep performs well.
With flat grounds and low boundaries preventing them from finding any rhythm for a significant portion of their periods, some of India's top pace bowlers have had a terrible start to the 2026 Indian Premier League. On Thursday, Arshdeep Singh's luck finally flipped around. In his most successful IPL 2026 performance, he claimed 3/22 in four overs after giving up 50 runs in his previous encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Ryan Rickelton and Quinton de Kock, the left-handed opening pair for the Mumbai Indians, struck an outstanding century when the left-armer got the ball to swing away from them in the first over. Soon after, Rickelton held out to Shashank Singh in the third over, becoming his 100th IPL victim.Suryakumar Yadav was supposed to help MI bounce back from the early setback, but Yuzvendra Chahal made a deft catch at short third man, and Arshdeep removed his India T20I skipper off the first delivery he faced by angling the ball away from him to locate the outside edge.
Arshdeep set the tone as PBKS reduced the hosts to 12/2 in the powerplay. After Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to field on a surface that offered neither pace nor spin, it was precisely the start they were hoping for.Later, as de Kock was leading MI on the charge, Iyer brought out Arshdeep to stop the run flow. The pacer responded to his captain's request by dismissing the dangerous Sherfane Rutherford with a precise yorker and sending him back for one run. A score that appeared likely to reach or beyond 200 runs would now end in the mid-190s due to the dismissal.
Arshdeep produced the game-changing spell on a pitch when all other Indian bowlers had struggled to hit their straps. It was the beginning of a successful run for him in the tournament, which would benefit both him and PBKS.

Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 198/3 in 16.3 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 80 not out, Shreyas Iyer 66) defeated Mumbai Indians 195/6 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 112, Naman Dhir 50, Arshdeep Singh 3/22) by 7 wickets.