India, May 15 -- Punjab Kings slumped to their fifth straight defeat, seriously hurting their playoff hopes, as Mumbai Indians cruised to a six-wicket win in a crucial IPL clash on Thursday, riding on Shardul Thakur's four-wicket haul and a clinical batting effort from Tilak Varma, who smashed 75.

Asked to bat first, Prabhsimran Singh (57) added a 33-ball 50-run opening stand with Priyansh Arya (27) to take PBKS to 55 for 1 in the powerplay and then added 57 runs with Cooper Connolly to go past the 100-run mark in the 12th over.

Shardul (4/39) brought MI back into the game with a four-wicket burst but PBKS managed to pile up 53 runs in the last three overs to post a competitive 200 for 8.

Chasing the target, Ryan Rickelton came out bla...