The Chennai Super Kings boosted their Indian Premier League playoff chances as captain Ruturaj Gaikwad top-scored to clinch a five-wicket victory against the Rajasthan Royals.

Off the back of two defeats in their last three outings, the Super Kings needed a victory, and an impressive bowling display allowed them to easily chase down the Royals' total with 10 balls to spare on Sunday.

After the Royals won the toss and opted to bat first, openers Jos Buttler and Yashavi Jaiswal got Rajasthan off to a solid start before the latter was dismissed in the seventh over with 43 runs on the board.

Buttler lost his wicket less than two overs later, and though Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag somewhat steadied the ship, Chennai's bowlers continued to make runs difficult to come by.

Parag top-scored for Rajasthan as he finished unbeaten on 47, but the Royals could only muster 141-5 from their 20-over allocation.

Chennai overcame the loss of opener Rachin Ravindra in the fourth over to set themselves up for victory, despite all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja being dismissed for obstructing the field having added just five runs.

Captain Gaikwad guided his team over the line, finishing with 42 not out from 41 deliveries as Chennai wrapped up the win without needing MS Dhoni, who could have played his last IPL game at Chepauk.

The victory leaves Chennai third with one game remaining against Royal Challengers Bangalore, while Rajasthan miss the chance to go level on points with IPL leaders Kolkata Knight Riders, though their playoff place should still be safe with a four-point gap between them and the fifth-placed Delhi Capitals, who face RCB later on Sunday.

Data debrief: Chennai bowlers shine

The Super Kings had previously come out on the wrong end of the result in their last four meetings with the Royals, but a strong performance from their bowlers allowed them to end that losing streak.

Simarjeet Singh was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 3-26, while Tushar Deshpande (2-30) also impressed. While Jadeja did not get a wicket, his four overs only amounted to 24 Rajasthan runs.

Indian Premier League leaders Kolkata Knight Riders extended their winning streak to four matches and sealed their place in the playoffs by defeating Mumbai Indians in a match impacted by rain on Saturday.

A delayed start to the contest meant it was limited to 16 overs per side, and KKR made it to 157-7 with Venkatesh Iyer producing a quick-hitting 42 runs from 21 balls, as Jasprit Bumrah (2-39) and Piyush Chawla (2-28) both made an impact with the ball.

While Sunil Narine went without scoring, Andre Russell contributed a 14-ball 24 toward the backend of the KKR innings, including two fours and two sixes.

The Indians looked likely to chase down their victory target when they reached 65-0 in the early stages, as they looked to improve on a fine 7-3 record at KKR's Eden Gardens.

But the wicket of Ishan Kishan in the seventh over sparked a rapid collapse, with Mumbai – already eliminated from the competition – quickly falling to 92-5 and ultimately losing by 18 runs.

Russell returned to grab 2-34 from three overs, sharing the wickets with Harshit Rana (2-34), Varun Chakaravarthy (2-17) and Narine, who had 1-21 from his three overs.

KKR remain top of the standings. As well as being the first team to seal their progress, they look good to secure a crucial top-two finish which would give them two chances to reach the final. They now have 18 points, two clear of Rajasthan Royals, who play Chennai Super Kings in one of two games due to take place on Sunday.

Data Debrief: Bumrah eyeing Purple Cap

While this was the latest setback in a highly disappointing season for Mumbai, who are second-bottom of the standings, Bumrah has been a prolific threat.

He took another two key wickets in this one, removing KKR dangerman Sunil Narine for a golden duck and halting a charge from Rinku Singh (20 from 12) in the final over.

That took India bowler Bumrah's season tally to 20, putting him level with Punjab Kings' Harshal Patel at the top of the Purple Cap standings.

The final figures could have been even better for Bumrah, who was frustrated to be hit for six by Ramandeep Singh (17 from 8) in the final ball of the KKR innings and earlier had an lbw decision against Nitish Rana (33) overturned on review.

However, a difficult period of form continued for Bumrah's team-mate Rohit Sharma in his team's unsuccessful run chase.

The opener came into the match with scores of 6, 8, 4, 11 and 4 in his last five innings and he was not much better here, struggling to 19 from 24 before falling to the superb Varun Chakaravarthy, who posted economical figures of 2-17 from four overs. That was quite the contrast to partner Kishan, who smashed 40 from 22.

Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill wrote their names into the history books as the Gujarat Titans earned a 35-run victory over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League on Friday to move eighth. 

The pair contributed to a sensational 210 runs between them for the opening wicket – the joint-highest opening stand in IPL history – as the Titans set CSK a daunting target of 232.

Gill was the first to reach his century in the 17th over, plundering 104 off 55 balls, but Sudharsan followed shortly after, hitting 103 off 51 before Tushar Deshpande got both out within the next five balls.

The Titans only added a further 41 runs to finish with 231-3 but stifled CSK when they stepped up to bat.

The Super Kings were 10 for three down inside the first two overs before Daryl Mitchell (63) and Moeen Ali (56) got them into their stride.

Mohit Sharma ensured the Titans ended strongly, finishing with figures of 3-31 to limit CSK to 196-8, leaving them with a tough task to reach the play-offs as they remain in fourth.

Data Debrief: GT history makers

Sudharsan, whose knock included five fours and seven maximums, and Gill, who helped himself to nine fours and six maximums, both scored their first centuries in the IPL this season.

Along the way, Gill and Sudharsan pushed the IPL century count past 100.

Virat Kohli's superb knock of 92 helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a fourth straight win in the Indian Premier League on Thursday as they kept their playoff hopes alive with a 60-run triumph over Punjab Kings.

Kohli smashed seven fours and six sixes in his 47 balls faced as the Challengers set the Kings a daunting target of 241, with Rajat Patidar also bringing up his half-century and Cameron Green (46 off 27) falling just short of doing so.

The Kings pulled off the biggest run chase in IPL history less than two weeks ago, but their hopes of another comeback were dealt a huge blow when Faf du Plessis took a wonderful over-the-shoulder catch to send Jonny Bairstow packing with Punjab at 71-1.

Kohli's contribution wasn't only limited to the bat, as he produced a stunning run out of Shashank Singh, haring onto the scene to send wickets flying with an underarm throw as Shashank failed to make it back by mere inches.

It was then up to Mohammed Siraj to polish off the Punjab tail, finishing with figures of 3-43 as the Kings fell to back-to-back defeats, keeping them ninth in the standings.

Data Debrief: Kohli leads the way

Having previously claimed the honour in 2016, Kohli leads the way in the race for the 2024 Orange Cap, another impressive innings taking him to 634 runs for the campaign.

Averaging 70.44 with a strike rate of 153.51, Kohli put further distance between himself and Chennai Super Kings' Ruturaj Gaikwad, whose 541 runs put him second in the standings. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad hammered Lucknow Super Giants by 10 wickets with more than 10 overs to spare in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.

Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head struck an unbeaten 167 from the opening partnership to move SRH third in the points table, with LSG unable to come up with any answers to defend their own haul of 165-4.

Head plundered 89 from 30 balls, including eight fours and eight sixes, while Sharma's 75 from 28 had eight fours and six maximums, in an explosive batting display that saw the duo hit 100 inside the powerplay.

Earlier, Lucknow struggled to get going in their innings, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-12) conceding only singles and shutting down LSG's top order, who scored just 66 in the first 11.2 overs.

Former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran continued his fine build up to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup with an unbeaten 26-ball 48, as he crafted a 99-run fifth-wicket stand with Ayush Badoni, who was also unbeaten on 55.

Pooran struck six fours and a solitary six, while Badoni's 30-ball knock had nine fours, as the two gave Lucknow a chance, but in the end, it was nowhere near enough.

Data Debrief: Sunrisers pounce again in the powerplay

Sunrisers scored 107 runs in the powerplay. In all of T20 cricket, there have only been seven instances of a team scoring 100 runs or more in the powerplay – SRH have the two top scores, with both coming this year.

Pooran and Badoni's 99-run partnership was LSG's highest for the fifth wicket in IPL, surpassing the previous record of 87 between Deepak Hooda and Badoni. However, it proved fruitless.

Rajasthan Royals failed to chase down the Delhi Capitals, who claimed a 20-run victory in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.

Sanju Samson struck 86 off 46 balls for the second-placed Royals, but the Capitals successfully defended their haul of 221.

Jake Fraser-McGurk's 20-ball 50 set the tone for the Capitals, who are well in the play-off hunt with two matches remaining.

Fellow opener Abishek Porel plundered 65, with Tristan Stubbs adding a useful 41 towards the end of the innings, with Ravichandran Ashwin (3-24) the only Royals bowler to do significant damage.

Kuldeep Yadav (2-25) and Mukesh Kumar (2-30) led the way with the ball for Delhi, with the latter taking the vital wicket of Samson in the 16th over, leaving the Royals with too much to do from 162-4.

Delhi have won three of their last four matches and are making a late run for the play-offs, as one of four teams tied on 12 points.

Data Debrief: Samson soars

It took Samson just 31 minutes to amass 86 runs before he was eventually dismissed, with the loss of his wicket all but ending the Royals' hopes.

In the process, he moved into third place in the IPL run-scorers chart, up from 11th, with 471 runs to his name this season. He trails only Ruturaj Gaikwad (541) and Virat Kohli (542).

Suryakumar Yadav scored an unbeaten century to lead Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Monday.

Yadav hit a sensational 102 not out off 51 balls with six maximums as Mumbai successfully chased a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare, lifting them off the foot of the table.

Despite a slow start to the Indians' innings in which SRH took three wickets in the first five overs, Yadav’s introduction turned things around as he put on a partnership of 143 with Tilak Varma (37 not-out).

Sunrisers had started well, with Travis Head reeling off a quick 48, but Piyush Chawla (3-33) and Hardik Pandya (3-31) limited Hyderabad to 173-8, with Anshul Kamboj claiming his maiden IPL wicket by bowling out Mayank Agarwal.

Pat Cummins finished with a flurry, knocking 35 runs from 17 balls, and the Australia captain helped SRH put the Indians on the ropes when he dismissed Rohit Sharma in the fourth over.

Yet Mumbai would lose only one more wicket as Yadav inspired them to victory that snapped a four-match losing run.

Data Debrief: Yadav star of the show

This was Yadav's first IPL hundred of the season, with his knock including 18 boundaries (12 fours, six sixes), taking him up to 334 runs so far this campaign.

He is 16th in the overall rankings, and some 108 runs behind leader Virat Kohli. 

Kolkata Knight Riders moved to the top of the Indian Premier League courtesy of a 98-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants.

Sunil Narine hit a sensational 81 from 39 balls, and he was ably supported by Ramandeep Singh's 25 from six deliveries, as KKR reeled off a third straight win on Sunday.

Ramandeep enjoyed a great day in the field too, as he took one of the catches of the season as LSG managed just 137 in response to KKR's 235.

Phil Salt struck 32, but it was fellow opener Narine who did the damage for KKR.

Ravi Bishnoi eventually ended his stand, but only when KKR had reached 140. Angkrish Raghuvanshi (32) had to be substituted out, but Shreyas Iyer added a useful 23 before Ramandeep hammered 25 from just an overs' worth of deliveries.

KL Rahul (25) and Marcus Stoinis (36) tried to get Lucknow going either side of Ramandeep's spectacular catch to dismiss Arshin Kulkarni, but the Super Giants never set the pace to truly trouble Kolkata.

Chennai Super Kings moved into the Indian Premier League playoff places after beating Punjab Kings by 28 runs in Dharamshala.

The reigning champions avenged their seven-wicket defeat by the Kings in Chennai four days earlier to climb to third place in the table with three games remaining.

After a slow start, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Daryl Mitchell's partnership brought 57 runs and settled CSK into their stride. Although MS Dhoni went for a duck, Ravindra Jadeja's late surge of 43 from 26 balls saw them close at 167-9.

Tushar Deshpande claimed Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw in the second over to stem the Kings' early momentum, while Jadeja (3-20) also took a quickfire double of Sam Curran and Ashutosh Sharma in the 13th over as the hosts finished well short of their target at 139-9.

Data debrief

In getting back to winning ways, CSK ended their five-game losing streak against the Kings, stretching back to 2021.

Despite going for a duck, Dhoni managed to make amends in the field. When he caught out Jitesh Sharma, he became the first player in IPL history to take 150 catches.

A rapid 64 from captain Faf du Plessis helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a third consecutive Indian Premier League win as they again saw off Gujarat Titans.

RCB comfortably defeated the Titans in an away game six days ago and then comprehensively saw off Shubman Gill’s side once more on Saturday, this time at home.

After the Titans were bowled out for 147, RCB raced to a four-wicket victory with 38 balls to spare to move off the bottom of the IPL table, jumping up to seventh after overcoming a brief scare towards the end of their chase.

Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal and Vijaykumar Vyshak took two wickets apiece as the Titans struggled batting first, falling to 19-3 midway through the sixth over. They needed Shahrukh Khan (37), Rahul Tewatia (35) and David Miller (30) to post some kind of total, with Tewatia passing 1,000 career IPL runs.

Any faint hopes of halting RCB’s run of form were ended when Du Plessis fired 64 from just 23 balls with 10 fours and three sixes, ably supported by opening partner Virat Kohli (42).

A brief spell of chaos saw RCB fall from 92-0 to 117-6 with Josh Little taking 4-45, but Dinesh Karthik (21 not out) and Swapnil Singh (15no) steadied the ship and finished off the chase.

Data Debrief: Kohli regains Orange Cap

While Du Plessis top scored in this game, another good knock from Kohli, who hit four maximums, saw the India great regain possession of the Orange Cap. With 542 runs in IPL 2024, Kohli has a narrow lead over CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (509).

Kohli is averaging 67.75 and striking at 148.08, with four fifties and a century to his name from just 11 innings in a memorable campaign.

He has helped RCB recover from being beaten in seven of their first eight games, while the Titans, finalists in each of the last two editions, have now lost four of their last five.

Venkatesh Iyer starred with 70 for Kolkata Knight Riders before Mitchell Starc's four-wicket haul eased his side to a 24-run victory over Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

The Knight Riders only managed to post 169 at Wankhede Stadium as Iyer and Manish Pandey (42) were the only Kolkata batters to pass 15 runs on Friday.

Nuwan Thushara registered figures of 3-42 and Jasprit Bumrah picked up three wickets for just 18 runs as Kolkata limped to a target that appeared somewhat reachable for Mumbai.

Yet Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir all failed to get going in response for the Indians before Suryakumar Yadav's 35-ball 56 promised a tense ending.

However, Andre Russell forced Suryakumar to launch a full toss into the sky for a simple Phil Salt catch – with the West Indian one of three Kolkata bowlers to collect two wickets, along with Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy (both 2-22).

Suryakumer's dismissal teed up Starc's three-wicket blitz to end the innings with 4-33, moving the Knight Riders up to second in the table as Tim David's quickfire 24 proved redundant for Mumbai.

Data Debrief: Iyer the hero as Mumbai play-off hopes stunted

Having been reduced to 57-5 in the first innings, Iyer stood up with his season-best 70 off just 52 balls – including six fours and three maximums – guiding Kolkata to a commendable target.

This defeat left Mumbai ninth in the table, some six points adrift of the play-offs with just three games remaining – they may live to rue not capitalising on a promising first-innings position.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the hero as Sunrisers Hyderabad came back from the brink to secure a final-ball win over Indian Premier League leaders Rajasthan Royals on Thursday.

Kumar left the Royals reeling at 1-2 as they chased 202 for victory, dismissing both Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson for first-over ducks, flattening middle wicket to send the latter walking five balls in.

A 127-run partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag then seemed to have the Royals closing in on a fifth straight win, only for their chase to unravel in spectacular fashion. 

Two wickets apiece from Thangarasu Natarajan and Pat Cummins left the Royals needing 20 runs off 11 balls, and Rovman Powell came up with a thrilling cameo, the highlight being an unbelievable dive to avoid being run out on the penultimate delivery, which took Rajasthan within two runs of victory and one of a super over.

However, there was one more twist to come as Powell swung at Kumar's full toss, which clipped his back leg and was confirmed as out following a review, sealing a memorable win for Sunrisers.

The Sunrisers had also found themselves in a hole in their own innings, only for Nitish Kumar Reddy (76) and Heinrich Klaasen (42) to finish unbeaten and bring up a total they were just about able to defend. 

Data Debrief: Kumar bookends back-and-forth innings

For much of the Rajasthan innings, it looked like Kumar's early dismissals of Buttler and Samson would count for nought, with some expensive overs from Cummins and Marco Jansen leaving the Royals on the brink.

However, Kumar stepped up when it was all on the line on the final delivery, leaving Powell in a tangle to end Hyderabad's two-match losing streak and lift them into the top four. 

Punjab Kings eased to back-to-back wins in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday, their spinners doing the damage as they claimed a seven-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings.

The Kings chased down an IPL-record of 262 with eight balls to spare to beat Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, but they didn't need anywhere near that level of big hitting to clinch their first set of consecutive victories this year.  

Spinners Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar made it a far more comfortable outing for Punjab, finishing with two wickets apiece and giving up just 33 runs between them through eight overs.

Ruturaj Gaikwad did his best to keep CSK in it with his 62 off 48 balls, but they always looked unlikely to defend a middling score of 162, particularly when Deepak Chahar pulled up two deliveries into the Punjab innings and walked gingerly from the field.

Richard Gleeson dismissed Prabhsimran Singh for 13 on his IPL debut, but that was as good as it got for Chennai as Jonny Bairstow (46 off 30) and Rilee Rossouw (43 off 25) steadily ate away at their score.

The Super Kings' outing was summed up by Sam Curran's wayward drive spinning away from Shivam Dube at the boundary for a four late on, and Punjab wrapped up their most comfortable win of the season with 13 balls to spare.

Data Debrief: Kings maintain Chennai hoodoo

The Kings' upturn may have come a little too late to give them a genuine shot at the play-offs, but for Chennai, it was a case of more frustration against their bogey team. 

Punjab have now won their last five matches against the Super Kings, who have seen their title defence stall with a run of three defeats in four outings.  

Marcus Stoinis starred for Lucknow Super Giants as they edged to a four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians to move into third in the Indian Premier League.

Mumbai's chances of another high-scoring innings were dented early on as Ishan Kishan's low lob was taken by Mayank Yadav before Suryakumar Yadav was caught behind and walked after a successful Lucknow review inside the first three overs.

The Indians struggled to get going, and even Nehal Wadhera's 46 from 41 balls and Tim David's unbeaten 35 off 18 were not enough to drag Mumbai over the 150 mark as they finished their 20 overs on 144-7.

Having been left out of India's T20 World Cup squad, Lucknow captain KL Rahul managed 28 before he was dismissed in the fourth over.

But thanks to Stoinis' heavy lifting, as he plundered 62, including seven fours and two sixes, LSG looked set to cruise to victory.

The momentum stalled, though, when Stoinis was caught out by Tilak Varma, but Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya eventually saw them over the line with just four balls left to play with.

Data Debrief: Another happy away day for Stoinis 

This is the third game in which Stoinis has passed 50, and he has enjoyed another high score away from home after reaching 124 in LSG's trip to Chennai Super Kings. 

Despite making an early exit, Rahul (406), is now up to fourth in the race for this season's orange cap, although Virat Kohli continues to set the pace with 500 runs.

Phil Salt inspired Kolkata Knight Riders to get back to winning ways in the Indian Premier League as they beat Delhi Capitals with an emphatic seven-wicket victory. 

The Capitals had surpassed 220 runs in each of their last two matches, but their chances of doing so again were dented early on, Prithvi Shaw walking for 13 before the in-form Jake Fraser-McGurk followed before the end of the third over, his flat drive being taken by Venkatesh Iyer near the boundary for 12.

Varun Chakaravarthy posted figures of 3-16 as Kolkata prevented their visitors from mounting any kind of response, with only Kuldeep Yadav's unbeaten 35 off 26 balls helping them crawl beyond the 150 mark and finish their innings on 153-9.

Salt started brilliantly for Kolkata, plundering his way to a half-century within the first six overs of the chase. He was bowled by Axar Patel, but only after the openers had raced to 79-0, with Sunil Narine and Rinku Singh dismissed shortly after.

Shreyas and Venkatesh Iyer ticked off the remaining runs with ease, securing the win for Kolkata with 21 balls left.

Data Debrief: A sprinkle of Salt 

England all-rounder Will Jacks smashed an unbeaten century off just 41 balls to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore to victory over Gujarat Titans on Sunday, and his compatriot Salt followed up with a stunning knock this time around.

He reached 52 in just 26 balls, with a further two boundaries taking him to 60 and seeing Kolkata reach 79 by the end of the powerplay. His knock included seven fours and five sixes.