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.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

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) — SpaceX’s Starship made a triumphant return to Earth on Saturday, caught in midair by giant mechanical arms where its journey began 22 hours earlier.

It was the grand finale that Elon Musk and his team hoped for — the first-ever capture of a Starship flying back from space. But with the first-stage booster exploding shortly after Friday’s liftoff from Texas, the company fell short of its desired double catch.

Wreckage remained in the Gulf of Mexico, cordoned off by buoys, as the stainless steel, bullet-shaped spacecraft lowered itself upright at the launch pad.

The dramatic, sci-fi-like capture helped blot out the booster’s messy miss.

“Can you believe it?” shouted SpaceX commentator Dan Huot.

SpaceX officials said Saturday’s catch demonstrates the full reusability of Starship, intended for moon and Mars travel. Although Friday’s booster recovery failed, the company had already made three previous booster catches, validating the technique.

NASA welcomed Saturday’s news. The space agency is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the moon later this decade and help build a permanent lunar base. Musk’s ambitions are even grander: He wants to launch a fleet of Starships to build a city on Mars.

The world’s largest and most powerful rocket — a 407-foot (124-meter) behemoth — blasted off late Friday afternoon from SpaceX’s Starship base near the U.S.-Mexican border. Separating neatly from its booster before things went awry, the upper-stage spacecraft soared into orbit and released 26 advanced Starlink satellites.

Starship continued circling the world 165 miles (265 kilometers) up, with live views of itself and Earth streaming down via Starlink. The spacecraft completed 14 laps around Earth, outshining the previous mission’s one to two laps.

It was SpaceX’s 15th flight of a full-scale Starship since 2023 and its only second trip to orbit.

SpaceX reported that everything on the spacecraft, including its vital heat shield, appeared to work well.

As for the booster, SpaceX’s Kate Tice said its engines stopped firing too soon on the way back down. The booster’s guidance system sensed it wasn’t in the right position and automatically initiated the watery detour and self-destruction. Engineers are still investigating the cause.

SpaceX expects to begin launching Starships from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center within the next few months. That is the starting point for NASA’s next Artemis mission, which will skip the moon and remain in orbit around Earth for lunar lander practice.

Artemis III’s four astronauts will attempt to dock their capsule with not only Starship but Blue Origin’s Blue Moon. The two companies will take turns delivering crews to the lunar surface. NASA is targeting as soon as 2028 for Artemis IV, humanity’s first moon landing since the Apollo era more than half a century ago.

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SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)