Dharamsala, May 17: Skipper Adam Gilchrist produced an all-round show to guide Kings XI Punjab to a six-wicket upset win over defending champions Chennai Super Kings and keep alive their chances of advancing to the playoffs in the ongoing Indian Premier League here today.
Returning to the team after a brief lay-off due to a hamstring injury, Gilchrist led Kings XI from the front snapping fours catches and then guiding the home team's chase with an unbeaten 64-run knock that came off just 46 balls.
Chasing a paltry 120 for seven set by CSK, Kings XI rode on Gilchrist's whirlwind innings to romp home with 21 balls to spare.
Apart from Gilchrist, Mandeep Singh (24 off 21) made an useful contribution at the top.
For CSK, Dwayne Bravo picked up two wickets for 18 runs, while Ben Hilfenhaus (1/20) and Albie Morkel (1/28) scalped one apiece.
Earlier, opting to bowl Kings XI pacers produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict defending champions Chennai Super Kings to 120 for seven.
On a bouncy HPCA Stadium pitch, Praveen Kumar (2/18), Parvinder Awana (2/12) and Azhar Mahmood (2/28) shared six wickets between them, while Ryan Harris (1/24) accounted for the other CSK batsman.
Bravo played an important 43-ball 46-run knock in the middle, during which he struck two fours and three sixes, to take CSK to the 120-run mark.
With this defeat CSK have ended their league engagements with 17 points from 16 games and will have to wait for the results of the remaining league games to know their fate.
Kings XI, on the other hand, will have to win their last game against table toppers Delhi Daredevils here on Saturday to stay in the hunt.
Gilchrist and Mandeep gave a flying start to Kings XI's run chase, sharing 51 runs off 41 balls for the opening stand before two quick wickets brought CSK back into the game.
