A strong batting performance from the Punjab Kings top order helped set them up for a comfortable five-wicket win over the Chennai Super Kings in their Tata IPL clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai on Friday night.
After Punjab won the toss and chose to bowl, the Super Kings managed a competitive 209 for four batting first, with Ayush Mhatre top scoring with 73 off 43 balls (6x4; 5x6), while Shivam Dube, 45 off 27 (5x4; 1x6) and Sarfaraz Khan, 32 off 12 (6x4; 1x6) provided the runs down the order.
But the visitors responded with captain Shreyas Iyer leading from the front with 50 off 29 balls (4x4; 3x6), and he was backed up superbly by Prabhsimran Singh, 43 off 34 (6x4; 1x6), Priyansh Arya, 39 off 11 (3x4; 4x6) and Cooper Connolly, 36 off 22 (6x4), as all of the top four got good starts.
The Punjab chase got off to an absolutely flying start thanks to Arya setting the tone by smashing the first two legal deliveries for a four and a six, as 14 came off Khaleel Ahmed’s opener.
Matt Henry’s second went for 20, as two fours and a six off the bat of Arya, and a four from Singh had them cruising.
Arya’s fun came to an end early in the fifth over. After launching Henry for his fourth six, the bowler got his revenge by flattening his off stump, with the score 61 for one, which became 68 for one by the end of the powerplay.
Singh and Connolly added 34 to the score before a dreadful mix-up in the ninth over saw the opener sent back after going for a two that wasn’t on. Some smart fielding from Khan had him well short, with the score 95 for two, before they moved on to 103 for two at the halfway stage.
It was another mid-partnership of 32 between Connelly and Iyer that kept them ticking over, before the Aussie youngster hit Anshul Kamboj straight to Henry at long off, leaving them on 127 for three in the 12th over.
Iyer then took charge of a very important 59-run fourth wicket partnership with Nahel Wadhera (10), which took them past 150 and into range of the target.
But just after the captain brought up a 28-ball fifty, he hit Kamboj straight to a patrolling Rahul Chahar at sweeper cover at the end of the 17th over, and was followed the very next ball by Wadhera at the start of the 18th, slicing Henry to Noor Ahmad at extra cover, as they slipped to 186 for five.
But most of the damage had been done by then, and that allowed Shashank Singh, 14no off six (2x4), and Marcus Stoinis, nine not out off three (2x4), to take them home with eight balls to spare.
7️⃣th win in last 8️⃣ games against CSK ✅
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) April 3, 2026
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚. 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐭𝐡𝐚. 𝐀𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧 😌 pic.twitter.com/7lWnOBi7A1
In the first innings, the Super Kings got off to a mixed start as they lost opener Sanju Samson (7) in the second over, when Aussie bowler Xavier Bartlett got one to nip away from the batter as he tried to drive the ball, but ended up edging to keeper Singh, leaving them on 14 for one.
But fellow opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, 28 off 22 (2x4) and Mhatre recovered well as they made their way to 57 for one by the end of the powerplay.
Mhatre was leading the charge and two sixes from him in Marco Jansen’s seventh over saw 14 off it. Back-to-back sixes off Stoinis’ ninth, the first of which brought up a 29-ball half century in style, saw it go for 17, which allowed them to reach the halfway mark on 101 for one.
In the 12th over, Punjab finally made the breakthrough, ending a strong 96-run stand, as spinner Yuzvendra Chahal had Gaikwad sweeping straight to Wadhera at deep backward square leg.
Two more quick wickets followed, as Mhatre finally fell in the 13th over, having already been given two lifelines from drop catches, he was held at the third time of asking, Chahal hanging on at short third man off the bowling of Vijaykumar Vyshak.
In the following over, Jansen called for a review on new man Kartik Sharma (1) and was vindicated by three reds, as the Super Kings slipped to 130 for four.
But that brought Khan in to join Dube, and he absolutely dominated a 38-run fifth-wicket partnership to boost them over the 150-run mark.
But in the 17th over, after hitting Vyshak for three fours in a row, Khan found a backpedalling Wadhera at mid-on, leaving them on 168 for five.
It was then the Dube show over the rest of the innings, as he dominated a 41-run stand with Prashant Veer (6no) to get them past 200.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmed, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed
PUNJAB KINGS: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal