Chahal’s second IPL hat-trick helped PBKS win a wild game. CSK Vs PBKS
Chennai Super Kings 190 (Curran 88, Brevis 32, Chahal 4-32) lost by four wickets to Punjab Kings 194 for 6 (Shreyas 72, Prabhsimran 54, Khaleel 2-28, Pathirana 2-45).
At the MA Chidambaram Stadium, a wild game was turned upside down by Yuzvendra Chahal’s four-wicket 19th over, which included his second IPL hat-trick. This put Punjab Kings (PBKS) on track for a four-wicket victory and ended Chennai Super Kings‘ (CSK) hopes of making the playoffs.
With Sam Curran scoring 88 off 47 balls, CSK was on the verge of surpassing 200 for the second time in IPL 2025 and the first time at home, until that over. But in seven deliveries, the Chahal over caused a collapse in which they lost their final five wickets for six runs.
As a result, PBKS was pursuing 191 instead of 210, and Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer’s half-centuries gave them complete command.
But there was going to be one more twist. Shreyas was bowled while trying to get the winning hit with three runs needed off nine balls; PBKS then only managed two runs and lost another wicket off their next five balls that were legal, tying the score with three balls remaining. They ultimately crossed the finish line, and Marco Jansen’s inside-edged four gave the game a fitting conclusion.
Chahal’s impact is delayed. CSK Vs PBKS
Because PBKS was hesitant to deploy either Chahal or left-arm orthodox spinner Harpreet Brar against CSK’s left-hand batsmen, Chahal had only been utilized for two of the game’s first eighteen overs. However, Shreyas pitched the ball to his legspinner because the renowned spin-shy MS Dhoni was new to the crease.
Dhoni holed out the following ball after hitting a six off the over’s opening legal ball. Following a procession, Chahal removed Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, and Deepak Hooda from the final three balls of the over. CSK Vs PBKS A quicker skidder bowled Kamboj, Hooda chopped a wide-ish ball to backward point, and Noor miscued to long-on after taking on the slow legbreak outside off stump to complete the hat-trick in a typical Chahal manner.
The strongest spin hitter for CSK, Shivam Dube, was stranded at the non-striker’s end during all of this. He might have even questioned if he ought to have held the strike against Chahal and denied Hooda a second run off the first ball he faced.
CSK was bowled out with four balls remaining as Dube holed out the next ball after picking up an inside-edged four off the opening ball of the penultimate over.
Curran prepares CSK for a successful conclusion.
When Curran reached his fifty off thirty balls in the fifteenth over, he sent an irate bat-wave in what appeared to be the direction of his dugout. Curran had only played three of CSK’s previous nine games this season.
He gave CSK the innings they had been lacking all season long at number three. They got off to a sluggish start, falling to 22 for 2 after 3.1 overs. In the sixth over, Ravindra Jadeja edged Brar for three fours, resulting in their third wicket being lost.
It was largely because to Curran that they maintained their momentum after that. Even as PBKS slowed things down with the military-medium cutters of Azmatullah Omarzai and Suryansh Shedge, he continued to find the odd boundary, with his placement on the pull shot standing out. CSK Vs PBKS He took on the spinners, hitting a six and two fours in the eighth and ninth overs. With the ball not quite coming on and Dewald Brevis laboring with fluency, Curran dominated a fourth-wicket stand of 78.
Iyer’s decision to allow Shedge a third over instead of taking the chance of bowling Chahal or Brar against the two left-handers at the crease after Brevis had been removed was the pivotal moment in Curran’s innings. Curran continued to take advantage of Shedge’s mistakes, smashing him for two sixes and two fours in a 26-run over after he had given up just 14 runs off his opening two overs. At 160 for 4 in 16 overs, it gave CSK a strong platform in the last overs.
The fact that PBKS lost Glenn Maxwell to a fractured finger, maybe for the remainder of the season, also meant that Shedge had to bowl that over. Despite having a challenging IPL batting campaign, Maxwell has made a substantial contribution with his offspin, something PBKS would have appreciated against CSK’s left-handers.
Shreyas and Prabhsimran placed PBKS in charge.
In an opening stand of 44, Prabhsimran and Priyansh Arya were able to score consistent boundaries without chasing every ball because the size of PBKS’s target was diminished. After Arya was dismissed in the fifth over by a precise bouncer from Khaleel, Iyer joined Prabhsimran at the crease.
Prabhsimran dominated the second-wicket stand by picking his chances wisely and hitting boundaries with scoops and paddles behind the wicket in addition to strong hits down the ground. However, Curran’s quiet 12th over of cutters, off which CSK Vs PBKS only managed five runs, increased the strain, as 84 runs were now required off 48 balls.
In the thirteenth over, it caused Prabhsimran to chance his arm against Noor, which resulted in a slip by Pathirana at short third and a wicket when Prabhsimran caught Brevis at deep midwicket.
However, Shreyas decided to take over from Prabhsimran at this point, and he then made a significant shift. He surged from 28 off 23 to 50 off 32, crossing the boundary twice in the process.
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He went on to hit 6, 6, 4 off three Pathirana balls in the 17th over, so that was only a teaser. Only once did he miss his length by more than a small margin, but all three were off-missed yorkers. That slot ball was fired for six down the ground by Iyer.
He managed to move his front leg out of the way and create just enough space for a wristy whip over wide long-on, even if the next one was fuller and almost in the blockhole. Shreyas then opened his bat face to squeeze it between backward point and short third after Pathirana hit one in the blockhole, just outside off.
PBKS was now coasting as Shashank Singh also found his six-hitting range at the other end. But there was still space for a few nerves.
