PBKS need Dharamsala to halt the slide as MI roll in eliminated and short of Pandya
Punjab Kings host Mumbai Indians at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Thursday looking for the win that gets their playoff push back on track, against a side that has nothing left to play for and may take the field without its captain.
PBKS sit fourth on 13 points from 11 matches, but the table position is masking how badly the wheels have come off. The Kings opened IPL 2026 with six wins and a washout in their first seven games, the best start by any side in any IPL season, and have lost four in a row since. A fifth straight defeat at Dharamsala would not eliminate them, but it would shift control of the playoff math to other teams' results.
Iyer the one constant
Shreyas Iyer's run-scoring has held up across the collapse. The Punjab captain has 392 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 164 and an average around 56, with five fifties to his name. He has been the only batter in the side meeting expectations at both ends of the order. The boundary count has dropped and the bowling is leaking in the death overs. Chances that stuck in April are now hitting the turf.
Mumbai's elimination came on Sunday at Raipur when RCB chased down their target on the final ball with two wickets in hand. Three wins from 11 leaves the five-time champions ninth in the IPL 2026 standings and ends their season three matches early.
Pandya out, de Kock the danger
Hardik Pandya has been officially ruled out of the trip to Dharamsala as he continues to recover from back spasms, with Suryakumar Yadav set to lead the side again. Pandya has been filmed at the nets striking the ball cleanly, which has muddied the picture, but the franchise has confirmed he will not be available for the toss.
The MI batter who hurts PBKS more than any other is Quinton de Kock. The South African made an unbeaten 112 off 60 in the first leg at Wankhede on 16 April, Mumbai's only bright spot in a seven-wicket loss, and Punjab will not want him settling early under the Dharamsala lights.
Conditions and the altitude factor
Dharamsala sits at 1,457 metres, and the thin air means a cleanly struck ball travels noticeably further than at sea-level venues. That has historically rewarded power-hitters and inflated totals at HPCA. The bigger worry is the forecast: a significant rain probability around match-time, with the regional met centre having issued a yellow alert for the Kangra Valley through 15 May. A washout would not help PBKS, who need full points.
Punjab have also won the last three head-to-heads against Mumbai. The skid means very little of that confidence will carry into the toss.
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