Chahal hat-tricks helps PBKS eliminate CSK from IPL playoffs race

On an evening headlined by Yuzvendra Chahal’s 19th-over hat-trick, Punjab Kings recorded a four-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings that sent MS Dhoni’s woeful team out of IPL 2025. 

Once a feature of IPL playoffs, CSK this year languish at last place on the points table with two wins from 10 games. Their batting has been shoddy and as Dhoni said after this latest defeat, the fielding too has not been of a high standard.

CSK, after being put into bat, were on track for over 200 with 12 deliveries left in their innings. They were 177/5 with Shivam Dube and Dhoni at the crease, who after a wide to start the over, struck the first legal delivery from Chahal for six to make it 184/5 with 11 balls to be bowled. 

What panned was unprecedented. Dhoni was caught at long-off next ball. Deepak Hooda slashed the fourth ball straight to point. Anshul Kamboj, entering as CSK’s Impact Player, missed the fifth ball to be bowled for a golden duck. To the hat-trick delivery, Noor Ahmad showed complete foolishness as he tried to slog it for a boundary, only to hand the fielder running in from long-on a catch. 

This was Chahal’s second IPL hat-trick, and a remarkable way to get it. He was called on tactically to bowl the 19th over with Dhoni on strike and ended up taking four wickets to finish with 4/32 from three overs. In the final over, Arshdeep Singh took out Dube to end CSK’s innings at 190. Oddly, Dube faced just four deliveries after the 15th over. 

This stunning collapse undid the hard work put in by Sam Curran, who slammed 88 off 47 deliveries to overturn another poor start from CSK. 

Chasing 191, Punjab won in the last over to consign CSK to fifth defeat at home this season. It seemed like they would win much earlier after fifties to Shreyas Iyer (72) and opener Prabhsimran Singh (54) had hurried their chase along, but two wickets in the span of 10 deliveries followed by a mini collapse of 3/10 with victory in sight delayed the inevitable. 

The win takes PBKS to 13 points – back in the top four – and eliminates CSK from the playoffs race.