CSK Struggles at Chepauk: PBKS’ Shreyas Iyer and Priyansh Arya Shine

Chennai:

Punjab Kings picked up a comfortable five-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The hosts improved their batting significantly after a defeat to Rajasthan Royals to kickstart their IPL 2026 campaign, but that wasn’t enough as Punjab had the right template in hand to beat Chennai. 

Batting first, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking as Chennai wasted the first half of the powerplay. It was only when Ayush Mhatre came out to bat that the scenario changed as the 18-year-old dominated the proceedings. He smacked 73 runs off 43 balls to keep the scoreboard ticking, but there was little support from the other end.

After he departed, Shivam Dube and Sarfaraz Khan showed plenty of intent, scoring 45 and 32 runs, respectively, as Chennai posted 209 runs on the board in the first innings. They were at least 20 runs and it was because of the poor striking in the powerplay and in the middle overs. For Punjab, Vijaykumar Vyshak once again put on a great show, claiming two wickets, while Yuzvendra Chahal proved extremely economical.

Punjab batters steal the show

Chasing 210 runs, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh launched a scathing attack. Priyansh smacked 39 runs off just 11 balls as Punjab were off to a cracking start. Courtesy of his dominance, the visitors completed 50 runs in just 3.2 overs and with that Punjab registered the fastest 50 against CSK in IPL history.

In the meantime, Prabhsimran added 43 runs while Cooper Connolly made 36 runs off 22 balls. After they departed, Shreyas Iyer took over the business, playing a scintillating knock of 50 runs off 29 balls. He would have preferred to finish things off, but the captain departed in the 17th over to Anshul Kamboj.

Nevertheless, Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis were there to see the game through, helping the team register their second win of the season. CSK, on the other hand, remain winless in the competition. It was also their sixth straight defeat at Chepauk. Last year, they suffered five back-to-back home games and in 2026, they started with a dissapointing defeat.

Also Read:

          </div>

function loadFacebookScript(){ !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’); fbq(‘init’, ‘529056027274737’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’); } window.addEventListener(‘load’, (event) => { setTimeout(function(){ loadFacebookScript(); }, 5000); });