Mumbai Indians managed to scrape through a nail-biting six wicket win over Punjab Kings in Dharamsala in IPL 2026, and you could feel the pendulum swing. One player in particular, Shardul Thakur, kind of just changed the entire momentum of the match like, all of a sudden, it wasn’t the same game anymore. He delivered a spell at that exact moment when PBKS seemed set to pile up something massive.
Punjab Kings were already over 100 runs in 11 overs, and it looked like they had the whole thing under lock and key. Then Shardul showed up, and basically turned the game upside down with that wicket taking burst of his.
Shardul Thakur’s Spell , turned everything around
Shardul Thakur put on one of the better bowling performances of the contest. He sparked a big collapse inside the PBKS batting order. With clever cross seam deliveries and neat, little variations tucked in at the right times, he dismissed the dangerous Prabhsimran Singh , right when Punjab were gearing up to dominate, proper style.
Still, the standout bit came later. Shardul bowled one beautiful ball that broke Shreyas Iyer’s stumps. Right away, fans started shouting it was an “absolute jaffa” on social media, like they knew it before the ball even finished.
His aggressive bowling, in the middle overs, shifted the flow toward Mumbai Indians so sharply it felt almost unfair.
PBKS Collapse After A Strong Start
Punjab Kings were pretty comfortably placed after the powerplay, with Prabhsimran Singh attacking the MI bowlers, confidently. Still though, once Shardul got his breakthroughs, wickets started falling, regularly … like way too often.
Raj Bawa then did his bit too, dismissing Cooper Connolly, and at that moment PBKS just suddenly slipped into real trouble. For a stretch, Punjab ended up 140/7, which felt a bit weird because earlier in the innings they looked like they could cruise towards a 220-plus score.
Fans react to “Lord Shardul” performance
Cricket fans were pretty much all over Shardul Thakur after his match changing spell versus PBKS. On social media, people kept posting “Lord Shardul” memes , plus a whole lot of thank you type posts, because he took out both Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer at very crucial phases . A lot of users even said his delivery to Shreyas Iyer was among the best balls in IPL 2026 so far.
Shardul once again proves his worth
Shardul Thakur has once again shown why he is still counted as one of the deadliest wicket taking bowlers in T20 cricket. Every time Mumbai Indians needed a breakthrough, Shardul stepped up, then momentum just shifted completely. It was his clever bowling, and that fearless mindset, you know the vibe, that really made the difference .