Punjab Kings (PBKS) took a big step forward on their road to the playoffs with a six-wicket final-over win in a competitive and entertaining contest against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Match 49 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

With this victory, PBKS made it six wins in 10 matches and jumped to second place with 13 points, leapfrogging three teams on 12 points in a thrilling battle on the points table.

Yuzvendra Chahal's 4/32, which included the first hat-trick of TATA IPL 2025, helped PBKS restrict CSK to 190 after Sam Curran's fabulous 88(47). Riding on skipper Shreyas Iyer's 72(41) and Prabhsimran Singh's 54(36), PBKS chased down the target with two deliveries to spare.

Iyer’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss paid dividends early on. Arshdeep Singh sent back Shaik Rasheed in the third over, before Marco Jansen struck with 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre's wicket in the next over, and CSK were 22/2.

Just when Ravindra Jadeja began to inject some momentum into CSK’s powerplay effort with three boundaries off fellow left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar in the sixth over, a successful review for caught behind from PBKS meant Brar had the last laugh. Jadeja walked back for 17(12) and CSK ended another slow powerplay at 48/3.

However, on this occasion, the men in yellow were determined not to let a slow start dictate the rest of their innings. Sam Curran and Dewald Brevis led the counter-attack, and in some style. They took on the PBKS spin duo of Brar and Yuzvendra Chahal and propelled CSK to 89/3 at the halfway mark.

They brought up a 50-run partnership in the 12th over, before Azmatullah Omarzai castled Brevis (32 off 26) in the 15th over with a lovely delivery, thus ending a stand of 78(50), filled with impressive shotmaking.

Curran was in no mood to stop soon, though, and kept finding the gaps as well as the big hits with ease. He smashed two sixes and two fours in a 26-run Suryansh Shedge over to charge CSK forward to 160/4 at the 16-over mark. The English all-rounder walked back for a scintillating 88(47) in the next over, thus bringing MS Dhoni out to the middle.

Dhoni was dismissed for an entertaining 11(4) in the 19th over by Chahal, who wasn’t going to let Curran and Dhoni grab all the headlines.

After Dhoni’s wicket, Chahal picked up three more in the same over, as Deepak Hooda miscued one to cover, before Anshul Kambhoj was castled and Noor Ahmad skied one to long-on, thus giving Chahal the first hat-trick of IPL 2025. With Shivam Dube also dismissed in the final over, CSK were suddenly bowled out for 190.

Chahal, who ended with 4/32, became only the third bowler to take at least two hat-tricks in the IPL, and also the first bowler to take four wickets in an over on two separate occasions.

One of the most successful opening partnerships of the season, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, yet again got PBKS off to a strong start. With a flurry of boundaries, PBKS raced ahead to 44/0 after 4.3 overs, before Khaleel Ahmed dismissed Arya, caught behind by Dhoni for 23(15).

Despite the blow, Prabhsimran, who came into this match on the back of a superb 83(49), batted like a player high on confidence. Taking on the role of the aggressor in a stand with skipper Iyer, Prabhsimran mixed power with fine placement and PBKS were 88/1 at the halfway mark in the chase, needing 103 runs from the final 10 overs.

Punjab Kings (PBKS) took a big step forward on their road to the playoffs with a six-wicket final-over win in a competitive and entertaining contest against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Match 49 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

With this victory, PBKS made it six wins in 10 matches and jumped to second place with 13 points, leapfrogging three teams on 12 points in a thrilling battle on the points table.

Yuzvendra Chahal's 4/32, which included the first hat-trick of IPL 2025, helped PBKS restrict CSK to 190 after Sam Curran's fabulous 88(47). Riding on skipper Shreyas Iyer's 72(41) and Prabhsimran Singh's 54(36), PBKS chased down the target with two deliveries to spare.

Iyer’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss paid dividends early on. Arshdeep Singh sent back Shaik Rasheed in the third over, before Marco Jansen struck with 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre's wicket in the next over, and CSK were 22/2.

Just when Ravindra Jadeja began to inject some momentum into CSK’s powerplay effort with three boundaries off fellow left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar in the sixth over, a successful review for caught behind from PBKS meant Brar had the last laugh. Jadeja walked back for 17(12) and CSK ended another slow powerplay at 48/3.

However, on this occasion, the men in yellow were determined not to let a slow start dictate the rest of their innings. Sam Curran and Dewald Brevis led the counter-attack, and in some style. They took on the PBKS spin duo of Brar and Yuzvendra Chahal and propelled CSK to 89/3 at the halfway mark.

They brought up a 50-run partnership in the 12th over, before Azmatullah Omarzai castled Brevis (32 off 26) in the 15th over with a lovely delivery, thus ending a stand of 78(50), filled with impressive shotmaking.

Curran was in no mood to stop soon, though, and kept finding the gaps as well as the big hits with ease. He smashed two sixes and two fours in a 26-run Suryansh Shedge over to charge CSK forward to 160/4 at the 16-over mark. The English all-rounder walked back for a scintillating 88(47) in the next over, thus bringing MS Dhoni out to the middle.

Dhoni was dismissed for an entertaining 11(4) in the 19th over by Chahal, who wasn’t going to let Curran and Dhoni grab all the headlines.

After Dhoni’s wicket, Chahal picked up three more in the same over, as Deepak Hooda miscued one to cover, before Anshul Kambhoj was castled and Noor Ahmad skied one to long-on, thus giving Chahal the first hat-trick of TATA IPL 2025. With Shivam Dube also dismissed in the final over, CSK were suddenly bowled out for 190.

Chahal, who ended with 4/32, became only the third bowler to take at least two hat-tricks in the IPL, and also the first bowler to take four wickets in an over on two separate occasions.

One of the most successful opening partnerships of the season, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, yet again got PBKS off to a strong start. With a flurry of boundaries, PBKS raced ahead to 44/0 after 4.3 overs, before Khaleel Ahmed dismissed Arya, caught behind by Dhoni for 23(15).

Despite the blow, Prabhsimran, who came into this match on the back of a superb 83(49), batted like a player high on confidence. Taking on the role of the aggressor in a stand with skipper Iyer, Prabhsimran mixed power with fine placement and PBKS were 88/1 at the halfway mark in the chase, needing 103 runs from the final 10 overs.

Prabhsimran brought up his third fifty this season off 31 deliveries. He soon holed out to the deep for 54(36) by Noor Ahmad, after being dropped by Matheesha Pathirana earlier in the over and PBKS were 116/2 after 13 overs, still needing 75.

Iyer expertly changed gears and got to his fifth half-century of the season off 32 deliveries, and kept up the momentum to bring PBKS closer to the target. With 41 to get off four overs, Iyer put a massive dent in CSK's hopes with two sixes and a four in a 20-run Pathirana over. Iyer and Shashank Singh put on 44 off 18, and suddenly, PBKS were dominating.

Yet another moment of brilliance in this game sw Shashank walking back for 23(12).

Despite a few hiccups towards the end in the form of a few quick wickets, Iyer's 72(41) ensured PBKS clinched victory rather convincingly despite a last-over finish.