The gravity-defying catch Dewald Brevis pulled off on Wednesday night was probably the lone shining light for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who are enduring a dismal season.
Brevis’ catch stunned the cricketing world, and the 22-year-old has been appreciated for his exceptional presence of mind at the boundary rope.
In the first two balls of the 18th over, Punjab Kings’ Shashank Singh hammered Ravindra Jadeja for a boundary and a six. Shashank was looking to finish the game in a hurry and was looking to clear the rope again, but Brevis, with his excellent awareness, caught it in the thin air at deep mid-wicket.
Brevis, patrolling at long-on, ran and made the first contact with the ball inside the field of play as he caught it, then threw it up in the air. He crossed the rope but was airborne when he flicked the ball back inside the field of play and then came back to catch it.
Meanwhile, with another loss, CSK’s journey in IPL 2025 came to a disappointing end as they became the first team to be officially eliminated from the playoff race following a thrilling four-wicket loss to Punjab Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
This marks a historic low for the MS Dhoni-led franchise, as they have now failed to make it to the playoffs in two consecutive seasons – something that had never happened before in the team’s illustrious history.
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Batting first at Chepauk, CSK rode on a magnificent knock by Sam Curran, who scored a fluent 88 off just 47 balls, featuring nine fours and four sixes. Coming in at a precarious 48 for 3 in the power-play, Curran took charge of the innings and stitched a vital 78-run stand with Dewald Brevis (32), steadying the ship and lifting CSK towards a competitive total.
When CSK seemed to be setting up a strong finish, Yuzvendra Chahal turned the game on its head. The leg-spinner, who had bowled just two overs until the 19th, returned to bowl the penultimate over and scripted a remarkable collapse.
After being hit for a six by Dhoni, Chahal dismissed him the very next ball. What followed was a procession – Deepak Hooda, Anshul Kamboj, and Noor Ahmad all fell in quick succession as Chahal picked up a sensational hat-trick, his second in the IPL, to restrict CSK to 190.
In reply, Punjab Kings, despite losing a few wickets in the middle overs, including the well-set Prabhsimran and Shashank Singh (23), remained calm. Iyer’s composed acceleration and a bit of luck at the death helped Punjab chase down the target in 19.4 overs.
