Team CSK celebrating the wicket of Prabhsimran Singh of Punjab Kings during the IPL match 49 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. (Sportzpics)Punjab Kings chase 190 to go second in the points table and eliminate Chennai Super Kings
There is still almost a month of IPL left, but Chennai Super Kings are officially out of the tournament. On Wednesday, for a change, their batting unit, riding on Sam Curran’s 88, made 190, but Punjab Kings overhauled that total with ease to give them breathing space as the race for the play-offs begins to heat up.
With just two points separating the team at the top and fifth spot, each win means a lot more now as Punjab head to Dharamsala for their last three home matches.
At the half-way mark with dew around, the target of 191 looked par, one if Punjab’s batting unit fired on all cylinders, should be comfortably overcome. This new-look outfit’s biggest strength is that its top three are all in good nick, having scored in excess of 300 individually and it is where the bulk of their runs come from. The middle order is still untested to an extent, but at present their job is to finish the job that the top order begins. It panned out to perfection with skipper Shreyas Iyer leading from the front with 72.
Though Priyansh Arya, who scored his maiden century against Chennai at Mullanpur, made only 23 here – 20 of those came in boundaries, Prabhsimran Singh was at his punishing best. Coming in as an Impact Sub, his role over the years has been to maximise the Powerplay and inflict as much damage as possible.
Sublime Shreyas Iyer leads PBKS' chase with 72(41) 💪
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 30, 2025
But off late, the domestic circuit and this IPL has shown that he can add longevity to his innings while continuing to be adventurous – he played a switch-hit off Sunil Narine in the last game. Chasing a big total here, Prabhsimran combined with Shreyas to put his team in a commanding position, scoring 54 off 36 deliveries with five fours and three sixes.
He had only two boundaries and a six to show in the Powerplay, but when Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad came on, he greeted them with the intent that unsettled them before taking on Matheesha Pathirana.
More than Prabmsimran, it was Shreyas who killed any hopes of Chennai staying in the game. Coming in at No.3, he started off in his usual tempo before hitting the high notes in the middle overs, milking Noor, Curran and Pathirana with minimal effort. Since the start of the year, he has elevated his game to a new level by imposing his authority when he gets his eye in. Wednesday was no different as he was seldom troubled by any bowler and quickly took the game away from the hosts. With a tweaked stance that helps him clear his front foot and play lofted shots with a crisp swing of his bat, Shreyas now looks like a captain determined to end Punjab’s title drought.
Given how their season has panned out, particularly with the bat, that Chennai posted 190 deserved a pat. Yet, it was another outing where their struggles in the Powerplay came to the forefront before a late collapse, losing their last five wickets in the space of seven deliveries for six runs to be all out with four balls left in the innings. Four of those wickets came in the 19th over delivered by Yuzvendra Chahal, who after conceding a six to MS Dhoni, removed him. Later in the same over, he dismissed Deepak Hooda, Anshul Kamboj and Noor Ahmad to pick up his second hat-trick in the IPL. He is now the third bowler to have multiple hat-tricks in the tournament after Amit Mishra and Yuvraj Singh.
Super Sam Curran stands tall to rescue CSK with 88(47) 💛
Watch his knock 🔽🎥#TATAIPL | #CSKvPBKS
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 30, 2025
Having bowled the seventh and ninth overs of the innings, with Curran at his free-flowing best, Shreyas held Chahal back, and the moment Dhoni arrived, unleashed the leg-spinner, who stopped prevented Chennai from getting past the 200-run mark which looked on the cards with two overs left.
Earlier in the Powerplay, Arsheep Singh and Marco Jansen made early inroads which has become a common occurrence at Chepauk this season as Shaik Rasheed, Ayush Mhatre and Ravindra Jadeja were back in the dugout inside six overs.
From there on till they pressed the self-destruction button, it was all about Curran and his 78-run partnership with Dewald Brewis that gave Chennai the chance for a comeback. Though Brewis departed for 32, Curran with his 47-ball 88 gave voice to the Chepauk crowd which came alive for the first time since their opening fixture.
The 26-year-old all-rounder may not have an intimidating presence, but with a clean bat-swing and uncomplicated technique has a wide range of shots in his array. On a day when one of his elder brothers (Ben) turned out for Zimbabwe in a Test against Bangladesh, Curran showed signs of his old self that made him an integral member of England’s squads across all formats.
Player of the Tournament at the 2022 T20 World Cup that England won, his form has nosedived of late. After starting for Chennai, he was pushed to the bench here as well but on Wednesday, showed why he remains a hot property in T20s. Time and again, he would free his arms and swing in the arc to find gaps and provide the missing element in Chennai’s batting.
Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 190 all out in 19.2 overs (Sam Curran 88, Dewald Brevis 32; Chahal 4/32, Arshdeep 2/25) lost to Punjab Kings 194/6 in 19.4 overs (Shreyas 72, Prabhsimran 54; Khaleel 2/28) by four wickets
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