Curran hits his best IPL score but CSK out after loss

Chennai, the Indian Premier League

Chennai Super Kings 190 (19.2 overs): Curran 88 (47), Chahal 4-32

Punjab Kings 194-6 (19.4 overs): Iyer 72 (41), Prabhsimran 54 (36)

Four wickets later, the Punjab Kings won.

After defeating the Punjab Kings despite Sam Curran’s 88, the Chennai Super Kings’ chances of making it to the Indian Premier League play-offs are over.

England All-rounder Curran’s highest IPL score, which was the backbone of CSK’s 190 all out, was the result of Punjab’s two balls of chase, winning by four wickets with a late stutter.

Only six players left after the final two overs, including opener Prabhsimran Singh, who had already hit a majestic 72, Shreyas Iyer and who had hit a magnificent 54.

Iyer was bowled with nine balls to go when Suryansh Shedge followed with one, but Marco Jansen inside edged for four to win.

After losing eight of their past ten games, CSK’s hopes were effectively over, but their fate has now been confirmed.

Curran, England’s white-ball team’s player of the year at the start of the year, was dropped from their 2022 T20 World Cup squad, meaning he was unable to travel to India and win the Champions Trophy.

In his three previous appearances in the IPL this year, he had scored in the top 40, but this time he managed to hold together a struggling batting line-up.

The 26-year-old targeted the leg-side boundary with a nine four and four sixes against the side that let him go last year.

At the start of a collapse of six wickets in 12 balls, including a hat-trick for leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, he was caught behind in the 18th over.

In four more deliveries, he took four wickets, starting with MS Dhoni, Deepak Hooda, Anshul Kamboj, and Noor Ahmad.

In Thursday’s IPL game between the Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 14, will have another chance to shine after a century that came against him on Monday.