Watch: Shreyas Iyer's superb catch dismisses Hardik Pandya for 14 during MI vs PBKS clash in IPL 2026

Despite picking two early wickets of the Mumbai Indians (MI) during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) couldn’t get themselves ahead in the contest, and they had only themselves to blame. They dropped a simple catch of Naman Dhir before missing a chance to run out Quinton de Kock, who went on to celebrate his century.

After the wicket of Dhir, Hardik Pandya, the MI captain, charged up from the dominating position and walked into the middle. With a few overs to go, the right-handed batter had the sole aim to brutally smash the ball for boundaries and over boundaries.

Shreyas Iyer grabs stunning catch to dismiss Hardik Pandya in IPL 2026

On the 18th over of the innings, Hardik welcomed Marco Jansen with a massive six. It was a back-of-a-length delivery from the left-arm pacer, angled across. But the right-handed batter used the width to free his arms as the ball sailed over the ropes for a huge six.

Jansen decided to cut the pace and go wide of the batter on the very next delivery to the batter. Hardik reached for it for a big shot. It came off the toe-end and skied straight back over the bowler. Shreyas Iyer ran to his left from the long-on region and leaped sideways.

Watch the video here: 

He reverse cupped it and was airborne when he threw the ball up to Xavier Bartlett. Despite being in the air, he made the right adjustment of his body and threw the ball at the right position for the Australian to complete the rest of the job. The momentum would have taken him away, so he had to release the ball.

It was a catch that sent Pandya back for 14 runs and perhaps decreased nearly 15-20 runs from Mumbai’s scorecard.

MI finished with 195/6 relying on QDK’s century

Mumbai’s opener, Quinton de Kock, remained unbeaten on 112 runs off just 60 deliveries at a strike rate of 186.67, thanks to seven sixes and eight boundaries as he put up a strong partnership with Naman Dhir, who nailed 50 runs off 31 balls, with the help of three boundaries and as many sixes.

See Also: Twitter Reactions: Naman Dhir brings up 29-ball fifty during MI vs PBKS clash in IPL 2026

For the Punjab Kings, Arshdeep was superb for his three wickets in four overs at an economy rate of 5.50. Jansen was equally good for his spell of 1/30 in four overs.

Brief Scores (at the time of writing): PBKS- 21/0 (Priyansh Arya 11*) vs MI- 192/6 (Q de Kock 112*, Arshdeep Singh 3/22) 

Fans react to Iyer’s superb catch in IPL 2026 against Mumbai Indians

Here is how the fans reacted to Iyer’s outstanding catch in IPL 2026 against the Mumbai Indians-