Yuzvendra Chahal turned it around first for Punjab Kings with his second IPL hat-trick, denying Chennai Super Kings a total of 200 or beyond at the Chepauk on Wednesday. Thereafter, opener Prabhsimran Singh (54 off 36 balls) and the consistent Shreyas Iyer (72 off 41 balls) did the needful with the bat as Punjab Kings registered a four-wicket victory to move up to second in the standings.
CSK suffered the ignominy of having their playoffs hopes crushed at home. With yet another loss, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Co. are now out of the playoffs race. This is the first time in IPL that the five-time champions have failed to make the knockouts in two successive seasons.
In reply to CSK’s 190, which was possible primarily due to Sam Curran’s 88 off 47 after they were put in, Punjab Kings overhauled the total with two balls remaining.
Curran, though, was not effective with the ball, going wicketless and conceding 27 in his three overs.
Four in an over
Leg-spinner Chahal, wicketless in his first two overs and going for 23, responded excellently with four scalps in his comeback over when brought back in the 19th. Thanks to Chahal’s hat-trick, following his first in 2022 against Kolkata Knight Riders, the Super Kings lost their last five wickets for only six runs to be all out in 19.2 overs.
The task for Chahal wasn’t at all easy as Dhoni greeted him with a six, after Marco Jansen had sent Curran back with a short delivery in the previous over. Chahal, though, wasn’t afraid to pitch it up.
He first had Dhoni perishing in the deep for the first of his four wickets. Then, off the fourth, fifth and last ball, he forced Deepak Hooda to play a false shot, cleaned up Anshul Kamboj, and induced a mistimed shot off Noor Ahmad to complete his hat-trick, gaining a much-needed momentum for Punjab before the run chase.
Skipper in control
Openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran had taken the Kings off to a solid start in pursuit of a formidable 191-run target. Captain Shreyas, banking on his impressive form, once again began in a fluent style.
Even if the error was minimal, the Super Kings’ bowlers had no respite as Shreyas was in a murderous mood after a sedate start. He had a fine ally in Prabhsimran, who played to his strengths.
The Prabhsimran-Shreyas second-wicket partnership got separated with the dismissal of the opener off left-arm spinner Noor in the last ball of the 13th over. Punjab, however, were still confident of a win despite a required rate of above 10 an over then as Shreyas was almost flawless in his control of the game.
CSK’s hopes of pulling it off rested on Matheesha Pathirana, but his toe-crushers were dispatched by Shreyas in the 17th over when he smashed the Lankan quick for two sixes and a four, which practically sealed the game for Punjab.
Curran shines
After only 12 runs from his previous three innings, left-handed Curran showed good application to hit nine fours and four sixes for a well-compiled innings that helped CSK post a formidable total. Unfortunately for Curran, neither he nor any of his colleagues could make any impact with the ball.