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News India Live, Digital Desk: Cricket fans got to see a tremendous high-voltage drama on Friday night in the seventh match of the Indian Premier League 2026. In this match played at Chepauk Stadium, the home ground of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer snatched the match with his clever captaincy and brilliant batting. But the biggest story of this victory was the explosive innings of CSK’s young sensation Ayush Mhatre, which was stopped by Vijaykumar Vaishakh under a ‘masterstroke’ strategy. Ayush Mhatre’s storm: Chennai Super Kings, who came to bat first after losing the toss, had a bad start, but 19-year-old Ayush Mhatre, who came at number three, created a ruckus as soon as he came on the field. Mhatre played an explosive inning of 73 runs in just 43 balls, which included 6 fours and 5 skyscraper sixes. Along with captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, he made a partnership of 96 runs for the second wicket and gave a lot of class to the Punjab bowlers. At one time it seemed that Mhatre would single-handedly take the score beyond 230. ‘Jugalbandi’ of Shreyas and Vaishakh made the victim When Mhatre had become the biggest threat to Punjab, then Shreyas Iyer handed the ball to Vijaykumar Vaishakh. Iyer set a specific field for Vaishakh and instructed him to trap Mhatre outside the off-stump. Vaishakh tempted Mhatre with his clever bowling and eventually Mhatre lost his wicket while trying to play a big shot. Vaishakh took 2 important wickets for 38 runs in 4 overs, which put a break on CSK’s run rate and the team was restricted to 209/5. Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy innings and a resounding win. Priyansh Arya (39 runs, 11 balls) gave a stormy start to Punjab Kings, chasing the huge target of 210 runs. After this, captain Shreyas Iyer, who came to the crease, took charge. Batting with responsibility, Iyer completed his fifty in just 29 balls. He along with Nehal Vadhera made a match-winning partnership of 59 runs for the fourth wicket. Punjab achieved the target in just 18.4 overs and registered a resounding victory by 5 wickets. Punjab reached the top in the points table. With this victory, Punjab Kings have reached the top in the points table of IPL 2026 with two consecutive wins. At the same time, this is the second consecutive defeat for Chennai Super Kings led by Ruturaj Gaikwad, which has increased the concern of the fans. After the match, experts praised Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy and described him as a ‘smart captain’ who made the right changes at the right time in pressure moments.