Chahal performs hat trick in Punjab win that ends Chennai's hopes of IPL playoffs

CHENNAI, India (AP) — Chennai Super Kings became the first team to fall out of contention for the Indian Premier League playoffs as Yuzvendra Chahal performed a hat trick in Punjab Kings’ four-wicket win on Wednesday.

Half-centuries from captain Shreyas Iyer (72) and opening batter Prabhsimran Singh (54) anchored Punjab to 194-6 and propelled their team to No. 2 on the table with 13 points.

Leg-spinner Chahal picked up all four of his wickets in the penultimate over to finish with 4-32 as Chennai stumbled to 190 all out in 19.2 overs.

A dismal season for five-time champion Chennai saw them lose five home games and it is the third time in the last four seasons that they have missed the playoffs.

Last-place Chennai started the season with win against Mumbai Indians at home before they lost five straight games. They ended their losing streak by beating Lucknow Super Giants but again lost three consecutive games and have just four points after 10 matches.

Iyer smartly controlled Punjab’s solid run-chase in the company of Singh with both batters hitting 10 fours and seven sixes in between them.

Priyansh Arya (23) provided a brisk start of 44 off 28 balls before he was caught behind of a short ball from Khaleel Ahmed in the fifth over.

Chennai struck back briefly in the middle overs when Singh slog swept spinner Noor Ahmad and was caught at mid-wicket and Maheesh Pathirana dismissed Nehal Wadhera in the 15th over.

But Iyer upped the ante by smacking 20 runs in Pathirana’s next over that featured two straight sixes. Shashank Singh smashed two sixes in his 12-ball knock of 23 before he was spectacularly caught by Dewald Brevis at deep mid-wicket.

With only three required for victory Punjab lost two more wickets before Marco Jansen raised the victory with a winning boundary. Iyer dragged Pathirana’s full pitched delivery back onto his stumps which ended a scintillating 41-ball knock and Suryansh Shedge was caught at mid-wicket against Ahmed.

Sam Curran had brought Chennai close to breaching the 200-run mark for the only second time this season, but once he got caught behind for 88 off 47 balls in the 18th over, Chennai folded quickly against Chahal.

Iyer resorted to the experience of Chahal for the penultimate over after Punjab was penalized for slow over-rate and had to deliver the final two overs with five fielders inside the 30-yard circle.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni smacked Chahal for a straight six off the first ball before he holed out at long off of the next delivery. Chahal then dismissed Deepak Hooda, Anshul Kamboj and Khaleel Ahmed off successive balls to complete his hat trick.

Chennai’s struggle at the top-order continued when they lost three wickets inside the batting powerplay that included the key wicket of Ravindra Jadeja (17) who feathered spinner Harpreet Brar behind the wickets.

But Curran and Brevis (32) put on 78 runs and raised Chennai hopes of a strong total before Brevis was bowled by Afghanistan fast bowler Azmatullah Omarzai just before the death overs.

Curran smacked Shedge for 26 runs in the 16th over that included two sixes and two fours before he got caught behind in the next over while trying to leave Jansen’s short ball and the lower order collapsed against Chahal’s brilliant over.

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Chennai Super Kings' Sam Curran plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Chennai Super Kings' Sam Curran celebrates after scoring fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Chennai Super Kings' Dewald Brevis attempt to save six during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Chennai Super Kings' Noor Ahmad, left and Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni celebrates the dismissal of Punjab Kings' Prabhsimran Singh during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Punjab Kings' captain Shreyas Iyer plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Punjab Kings' Prabhsimran Singh plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Chennai Super Kings' Khaleel Ahmed celebrates the dismissal of Punjab Kings' Suryansh Shedge during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Punjab Kings' Yuzvendra Chahal, right, celebrates the dismissal of Chennai Super Kings' Noor Ahmad with his team mates during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Punjab Kings' Josh Inglis, right, shake hand with Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni after they won during the Indian Premier League cricket match against them at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Punjab Kings' captain Shreyas Iyer bowled out during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Punjab Kings' Yuzvendra Chahal celebrates after taking a hat trick during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Punjab Kings' Yuzvendra Chahal, right, celebrates the dismissal of Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni , left, during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

Punjab Kings' Yuzvendra Chahal celebrates the dismissal of Chennai Super Kings' Noor Ahmad during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings' at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/R. Parthibhan)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.

NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)