Punjab Kings maintained its hold on the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium as it comfortably chased down 210 with five wickets in hand to consign Chennai Super Kings to its second consecutive IPL 2026 defeat here on Friday, April 3.

Shreyas Iyer (50, 29b, 4×4, 3×6) top-scored for the visitor with a mature half-century, while Priyansh Arya blasted an 11-ball 39 as the 2025 runner-up climbed to the top of the table with its second win in as many matches.

CSK’s improved batting effort came largely without contribution from star batters Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson, whose home debut came to a brisk end as he nicked off to Xavier Bartlett for just seven to silence the whistles of the home crowd. The whistles would soon return courtesy of India U-19 captain Ayush Mhatre (73, 43b, 6×4, 5×6), who provided a reminder of his talent with a sparkling fifty.

Mhatre showed impressive aplomb in repeatedly clearing his front foot to thrash the PBKS quicks over the leg-side, and raised his fifty from 29 balls with the first of consecutive straight sixes against Marcus Stoinis.

While Mhatre dominated from one end, Gaikwad struggled to find fluency from the other as he plodded to 28 from 21 balls before falling to the sweep against Yuzvendra Chahal. The ever-skilful Chahal – who didn’t concede a single boundary in his three overs – troubled the CSK batters all evening, and was unlucky to see Mhatre dropped on 59 and 67.

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Gaikwad’s dismissal triggered a PBKS fightback as the visitor pulled the scoreboard from 110 for one to 130 for four. Vijaykumar Vyshak accounted for Mhatre slashing to short third while Marco Jansen trapped Kartik Sharma in front as CSK threatened to lose momentum before its innings could fully launch.

That momentum was restored by an innovative cameo from Sarfaraz Khan. The Mumbai batter relied on touch over power, kickstarting his innings with a trio of boundaries against Arshdeep Singh, and scored prolifically behind the wicket. By the time he fell to Vyshak, the stage was set for Shivam Dube (45, 27b, 5×4, 1×6) to put the finishing touches on the innings with some lusty blows as CSK reached 209 for five.

Punjab Kings’ opening pair of Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have shown a proclivity for running headfirst towards risk, and the pair set the tone again with a blistering opening stand of 61. Arya led the way, starting in sixth gear with a crisp straight drive, and never slowed down, flaying Khaleel Ahmed and Matt Henry for a flurry of boundaries on both sides of the wicket as PBKS raised its fifty in just 3.2 overs.

Henry eventually castled Arya to end his opening salvo, and brought Cooper Connolly to the crease.

Prabhsimran was not quite as fluent as Arya, but picked off boundaries regularly enough to keep the asking rate down until a horrific mixup coming back for two left him short of his ground. Connolly too carved the spinners away for a series of boundaries before slicing an Anshul Kamboj full toss to long-off.

With PBKS well-placed but still not home, Shreyas then took over. The 31-year-old was relentless, mixing towering sixes and shots with an angular blade to maneuver through gaps as he dominated a 59-run partnership with Nehal Wadhera. The PBKS skipper toyed with the CSK bowling, and left a previously-raucous Chennai crowd eerily silent as the game came to a close.

By the time he slashed Kamboj to the off-side sweeper, the result was all but secured, and though Wadhera fell off the very next ball to trigger memories of a middle-order collapse against GT, Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis remained calm to finish the game with eight balls to spare.

Published on Apr 03, 2026