IPL 2025: Arya century drags PBKS to 18-run win over CSK

Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings by 18 runs in the 2025 Indian Premier League on Wednesday morning (AEST) in Mullanpur, thanks almost entirely to a match-winning knock by Priyansh Arya at the top of the order.

Having elected to bat first, five of PBKS’s top six were bundled out for single digits by Chennai’s wily bowling attack.

The visitors had no answer for Arya, however, who made a career-best 103 from 42 balls to drag Punjab to 5/154 before he holed out in the 14th overs.

Shashank Singh (51* from 36) and Marco Jansen (34* from 19) continued Arya’s good work, adding an unbeaten 65 runs to set CSK a target of 220 to win.

Having come into the clash as underdogs on IPL betting apps after losing three consecutive matches, Chennai seemed to have turned a corner when they began strongly in their chase.

Kiwi openers Rachin Ravindra (36 from 23) and Devon Conway (69 from 49) made amends for their recent failures, adding 61 runs for the first wicket.

While captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (1 from 3) came and went quickly, Shivam Dube (41 from 27) and MS Dhoni (27 from 12) kept the scoreboard ticking over.

However, for the third match in a row, Dhoni was uncharacteristically unable to close out the contest, falling on the first ball of the final over and leaving too much for CSK’s new batsmen to do as they stumbled to 5/201.

“Today was spot-on from a batting perspective,” Gaikwad said after the match.

“This is what we wanted.

“Our best batters, who can play pace very well, played up the order and had a brilliant powerplay.

“It was a better, improved performance and many positives.

“Want to take some positives out of it, and we were two or three hits away.”

The loss hands five-time champions CSK another blow to their title hopes this year.

Cricket betting sites had Chennai among the favourites at $5.50 heading into the 2025 IPL season, but with the team sitting ninth on the ladder after four losses in a row, those odds have blown out to $29.

PBKS, meanwhile, now sit on the second line of title betting at $5.50 with BetOnline, behind only Royal Challengers Bengaluru ($4.50).

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