Yuzvendra Chahal collects second IPL hat-trick as PBKS bowl CSK out for 190: 'Plan was to bowl on...'

India and Punjab Kings leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal collected his second hat-trick in the Indian Premier League during Wednesday’s away game against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. Chahal got rid of CSK captain in the second delivery of the penultimate over before dismissing Deepak Hooda, Anshul Kamboj and Noor Ahmad in his last three deliveries of the evening to collect four wickets for nine runs in his final over and sign off with figures of 4/32.

Dhoni holed out to Nehal Wadhera at the edge of the long off boundary while trying to hit a full, wide delivery out of the park. Hooda fell to a similar delivery, slicing the ball to backward point after opening his account with a brace. Kamboj had his defence beaten and stumps rattled next ball with a quick, flat delivery that was aimed at the stumps.

The magical moment came in Chahal’s final ball of the evening, in which the senior leg-spinner floated one to Noor Ahmad along the off-stump. The Afghan left-arm wrist spinner attempted a wild slog, but barely cleared the circle at mid on as Marco Jansen completed an easy catch.

Thanks to Chahal’s late heroics, CSK lost wickets in a heap and were bowled out for 190 with four deliveries left in their innings when a 200-plus total was very much on the cards.

Chahal reveals the secret behind his four-wicket burst in CSK’s penultimate over

“Feeling very good, it was the 19th over and in front of me was ‘Mahi bhai’, felt it could go either way, but the plan was to go for wickets. Five fielders were inside and the plan was to bowl on the stumps and also to bowl wide, not bowl easy balls and play with the batter’s mind,” Chahal said during the innings break after his four-fer at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Chahal celebrated the moment with his signature pose that he later revealed is reserved for milestones such as a hat-trick of a five-for and is inspired by memes.

“It came from the memes and I had planned to do this celebration if I take a five-fer or a hat-trick,” the 34-year-old added.

Chahal’s previous hat-trick was in 2022 when he was part of the Rajasthan Royals during their ‘home’ game against Kolkata Knight Riders at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium. The leg-spinner dismissed Iyer, who was leading the Knight Riders back then, as well as Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins in successive deliveries in the 17th over as KKR crumbled to a seven-run defeat.

Chahal had finished with figures of 5/40 that helped him earn the Player of the Match award in that game.

The fact that CSK finished within touching distance of the 200-mark despite Chahal’s four-fer was mainly due to all-rounder Sam Curran’s explosive knock against the franchise that he had led for the better part of the 17th season last year.

Englishman Curran struck nine fours and four sixes and shared a 78-run fourth-wicket partnership with Dewald Brevis as Chennai recovered from a shaky start after being asked to bat by Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer.