Chennai Kings looked set to score 210 runs on a used surface at Chennai yesterday whilst the stadium was bathed in gorgeous yellow in support of the home team.
The pre match joy for Chennai Super Kings fans ended on a sombre note with the crowds leaving the stadium with tears that M.S.Dhoni and his boys are out of the playoffs of the IPL 25 season also rubbing Salt to the already infected wound in conceeding 4 wickets in the 19th over to Yuvendra Charl. Chennai Super Kings lost 5 wickets for 6 runs in the death overs, paving an opportunity for Yuvendra Charl’s hat trick in their own backyard and bowled out for 192.
The Chase of 193 to win for PBKS was not going to be a cakewalk because of the surface.
Credit must be given to Punjab Kings openers, namely Priyanash Arya and Prabhsman Singh, ensuring they threw caution to the wind on a tricky surface by stiching 44 runs partnership for the first wicket.
Captain Shreyas Iyer batted at number 3, partnered opener Prabhsmra Singh, and the pair batted with great intent whilst guiding their chase to safety before opener Prabhsmra Singh doing all the hard work for his 54 was scalped by Noor Ahmed with Punjab Kings on 116 in the 12th over.
Chennai Kings were sceptical on the field since Shreyas Ayer was batting with confidence against spin twins Noor Ahmed and Ravindra Jadeja. He did the hard job and paved the path to an inevitable victory, scoring 72-match winning runs with five boundaries and 4 maximums in 41 balls whilst thumping Matheesha Pathirana for 2 maximums in one over.
Sadly, he fell victim to Pathirana with PBKS needing just 4 runs, however, Punjab Kings managed to reach the target with a bit of a delay in 19.4 overs.
Chennai Super Kings did not bowl well, Pathirana expensive 2 for 45 , Khaleel Ahmed more didciplined 2 for 28 , Jadeja 1 for 32 and Noor Ahmed 1 for 39 failed to defend their score of 192.
For Chennai Super Kings, Sam Curren made 88, Devold Brewis 32 , and the rest including Jadeja , Dhoni, and Shivem Dube had an ordinary day with the bat.
The turning point was losing 5 batters for 6 runs in the death overs , appaling to state the least.
Chennai Super Kings have been humbled as they are the first team eliminated from the playoffs.