Shreyas, Prabhsimran and Chahal eliminate CSK

A four-wicket 19th over from Yuzvendra Chahal, including his second IPL hat-trick, turned a topsy-turvy game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, putting Punjab Kings (PBKS) on the road to a four-wicket win and sealing the end of Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) playoffs hopes.

Until that over, CSK were poised to breach 200 for only the second time in IPL 2025, and for the first time at home, with Sam Curran scoring 88 off 47 balls. The Chahal over, however, precipitated a collapse that saw them lose their last five wickets for six runs, in the space of seven balls.

It meant PBKS were chasing 191 rather than something in the region of 210, and half-centuries from Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer put them in full control.

There was to be one more twist, though. With three runs required off nine balls, Shreyas was bowled looking for the winning hit; PBKS then scored just two runs and lost another wicket off their next five legal balls, leaving the scores level with three balls left. They eventually got over the line, with an inside-edged four from Marco Jansen providing the match a most appropriate finish.

Chahal had only been used for two of the first 18 overs of the match, with PBKS reluctant to use him or the left-arm orthodox spinner Harpreet Brar against CSK's left-hand batters. But with the famously spin-shy MS Dhoni new to the crease, Shreyas threw his legspinner the ball.

Dhoni hit a six off the first legal ball of the over, only to hole out next ball. A procession followed, with Chahal dismissing Deepak Hooda, Anshul Kamboj and Noor Ahmad off the last three balls of the over. Hooda sliced a wide-ish ball to backward point, Kamboj was bowled by a quicker skidder, and the hat-trick came up in classic Chahal fashion, with Noor taking on the slow legbreak outside off stump and miscuing to long-on.

Through all this, Shivam Dube, CSK's best spin-hitter, was stuck at the non-striker's end. He may even have wondered if he should have refused a second run off the first ball Hooda faced, and kept the strike against Chahal.

Dube picked up an inside-edged four off the first ball of the final over but holed out next ball, which meant CSK had been bowled out with four balls left unused.

Curran had only played three of CSK's previous nine games this season, and he directed an angry bat-wave in what seemed the direction of his dugout when he brought up his fifty, off 30 balls, in the 15th over.

His innings at No. 3 was exactly what CSK had been missing all season. They made an indifferent start, slipping to 22 for 2 after 3.1 overs, and lost their third wicket in the sixth over, with Ravindra Jadeja edging Brar behind after hitting him for three fours.

That they didn't lose impetus thereafter was almost entirely down to Curran. He took on the spinners, hitting a six and two fours in the eighth and ninth overs, and kept finding the odd boundary - with his placement on the pull shot standing out - even when PBKS slowed things down with the military-medium cutters of Azmatullah Omarzai and Suryansh Shedge. With Dewald Brevis struggling for fluency with the ball not quite coming on, Curran dominated a fourth-wicket stand of 78.

The defining passage of Curran's innings came after Brevis had been dismissed, when Iyer chose to give Shedge a third over rather than risk bowling Chahal or Brar against the two left-handers at the crease. Shedge had conceded just 14 off his first two overs, but Curran kept pouncing on his errors now, hitting him for two sixes and two fours in a 26-run over. It set CSK a great death-overs platform at 160 for 4 in 16 overs.

That Shedge had to bowl that over was also an effect of PBKS losing Glenn Maxwell - possibly for the rest of the season - to a broken finger. Maxwell has had a difficult IPL with the bat, but has contributed significantly with his offspin, which PBKS would have welcomed against CSK's left-handers.

The reduced magnitude of PBKS's target allowed Prabhsimran and Priyansh Arya breathing room in an opening stand of 44, with both batters able to hit regular boundaries without going after every ball. Iyer joined Prabhsimran at the crease after an accurate bouncer from Khaleel sent Arya back in the fifth over.

Prabhsimran dominated the second-wicket partnership, choosing his moments adroitly and picking off boundaries with powerful hits down the ground as well as scoops and paddles behind the wicket. But a quiet 12th over of cutters from Curran, off which PBKS only scored five runs, dialled up the pressure, with 84 now needed off 48 balls.

It led Prabhsimran to chance his arm against Noor in the 13th over, and produced a drop - by Pathirana at short third - and then a wicket when Prabhsimran picked out Brevis at deep midwicket.

Shreyas, though, chose this moment to take the baton from Prabhsimran, and he proceeded to change gears dramatically. From 28 off 23, he sped to 50 off 32, clearing the boundary twice along the way.

That was just a teaser, as he proceeded to hit 6, 6, 4 off three Pathirana balls in the 17th over. All three were off missed yorkers, but only once did he miss his length by anything other than a marginal amount. Iyer launched that slot ball for six down the ground.

The next one was fuller and nearly in the blockhole, but he got his front leg out of the way and manufactured just enough room for a wristy whip over wide long-on. Then Pathirana landed one in the blockhole, but marginally outside off, and Shreyas opened his bat face to squeeze it between backward point and short third.

With Shashank Singh also finding his six-hitting range at the other end, PBKS were coasting now. There was still room, however, for some nerves.