Yuzvendra Chahal (4/32 in three overs) picked up four wickets in the 19th over to help dismiss Chennai Super Kings for 190 runs in 19.2 overs. Shreyas Iyer (72 off 41) and Prabhsimran Singh (54 off 36) then led the Punjab Kings chase
Yuzvendra Chahal's second Indian Premier League hat-trick, followed by vital knocks from Shreyas Iyer and Prabhsimran Singh on Wednesday (April 30, 2025) propelled Punjab Kings to a four-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings that signalled the end of the road for the MS Dhoni-led franchise. (As It Happened | Full Coverage)
Chahal (4/32 in three overs) picked up four wickets in the 19th over to cut short CSK's death-overs dash and help dismiss them for 190 runs in 19.2 overs. Iyer (72 off 41) and Singh (54 off 36) then led the Punjab chase, which wobbled a bit towards the end but was eventually successful in overhauling the target in 19.4 overs.
CSK, thus, bowed out of playoffs contention with the defeat. They lie at the bottom of the standings with four points from 10 games, and will play their remaining four matches (against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 3, Kolkata Knight Riders on May 7, Rajasthan Royals on May 12 and Gujarat Titans on May 18) purely for pride.
The Kings, on the other hand, jumped to the second spot in the table with the win.
Nothing seems to have gone right for CSK this season. Ruturaj Gaikwad's sudden injury forced Dhoni to return to captaincy, and the 43-year-old wicketkeeper-batter's body doesn't appear to be supporting him in the high-intensity endeavour.
"It was the first time we put enough runs on the board, but I feel it was slightly short of a par score. It's demanding on the batsmen but we needed slightly more. The partnership between (Sam) Curran and (Dewald) Brevis was fantastic," Dhoni said after the match.
He added: "I think we need to take our catches. Curran is a fighter, we all know. Unfortunately whenever we have tried to give him a chance so far, it was a slow wicket but today's wicket was the best one we had at home this season."
Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings.
Chennai Super Kings: Shaik Rasheed, Ayush Mhatre, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Deepak Hooda, MS Dhoni (c/wk), Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana
Impact Sub: Anshul Kamboj
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Josh Inglis (wk), Marco Jansen, Suryansh Shedge, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh
Impact Sub: Prabhsimran Singh