Punjab Kings (PBKS) moved to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Points Table with a convincing five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Chepauk Stadium on Friday, April 3.
PBKS got off to a blazing start courtesy the explosive opening duo of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, who put together a 61-run partnership off just 26 balls for the first wicket. Arya was the most destructive batter of the night, smashing 39 off just 11 balls, scoring at a strike-rate of 354.54 before being castled by Matt Henry.
Prabhsimran (43 off 34 balls) and Cooper Connolly (36 off 22 balls) ensured Punjab didn’t lose any momentum after the departure of Arya, with the Australian all-rounder also moving to the top of the batting charts with his knock to take the Orange Cap.
ALSO READ | Sealed With Six: 18-Year-Old Ayush Mhatre Brings Up Quickfire 50 In CSK vs PBKS — Watch
Captain Shreyas Iyer played a captain’s knock of 50 off 29 balls before Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis sealed the win with eight balls to spare.
Earlier in the game, Sanju Samson’s much-awaited home debut was cut short on just 7 runs in the 2nd over. However, 18-year-old Ayush Mhatre walked out at no. 3 and smashed a quick-fire fifty to help the home team recover from that early setback.
Mhatre finished with 73 off just 43 balls, hitting 6 fours and 5 sixes. Sarfaraz Khan chipped in with a high-scoring cameo, adding 32 runs off just 12 balls, scoring at a dizzying strike-rate of 266.66.
Shivam Dube also played a trademark knock finishing unbeaten on 45 off 27 balls as Chennai posted 209/5.
Here’s a look at how the IPL 2026 Points Table stands after the CSK vs PBKS match:
| Teams | Matches Played | Wins | Losses | No Results | Points | Net Run Rate |
| Punjab Kings (PBKS) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.637 |
| Rajasthan Royals (RR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.171 |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.907 |
| Delhi Capitals (DC) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.397 |
| Mumbai Indians (MI) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.687 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.469 |
| Gujarat Titans (GT) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.509 |
| Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1.397 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1.964 |
| Chennai Super Kings (CSK) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2.562 |
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