Key knocks by Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw helped Punjab Kings to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the IPL on Wednesday.

Chasing 163 for victory, Punjab depended on Bairstow’s 46 and 43 by Rossouw to achieve victory with 13 balls to spare at Chennai’s M. Chidambaram Stadium, AFP reported.

England’s Bairstow kept up his form from the previous match when he hit an unbeaten 108 as Punjab chased down a record IPL target of 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens.

Bairstow and Rossouw, a left-handed South African batsman, put on 64 runs for the second wicket to set up the chase.

Shivam Dube had Bairstow caught behind and Shardul Thakur bowled Rossouw to have Punjab in trouble at 113-3 in 12 overs.

Shashank Singh, who made 25, and skipper Sam Curran, who hit 26, then put on an unbeaten stand of 50 to steer the team home for just their fourth win and keep their slim play-off hopes alive.

Five-time winners Chennai have won five and lost five and stay fourth in the 10-team table led by Rajasthan Royals.

The pitch in Chennai was not run-friendly as the hosts posted 162-7 riding on skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 62 and late evening dew added to the home team’s misery.

But bowlers set up victory with spinners Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar taking two wickets each in their miserly spells — both giving away 33 runs in eight overs combined.

Gaikwad put on an opening stand of 64 with Ajinkya Rahane and despite losing wickets the other end kept calm to push the total forward.

Gaikwad surpassed Royal Challengers Bengaluru star Virat Kohli (500) as the leading batsman in the T20 tournament with 509 runs in 10 innings.

Gaikwad built key partnerships in the middle-order with Sameer Rizvi, who hit 21, and Moeen Ali, who made 15, before being bowled by left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh.

Veteran M.S. Dhoni came out to a rousing reception from the home crowd in what is likely his last IPL as player and he hit 14 off 11 balls before being run out on the final ball, AFP reported.

Afghanistan will start preparing immediately for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024 after sealing a historic win in the qualifiers in Thailand on Sunday.

Majid Mortezaei’s side led from start to finish in their 5-3 AFC Futsal Asian Cup Thailand 2024 Playoff 3 win against Kyrgyz Republic at the Bangkok Arena with the head coach saying they are determined to impress in September’s FIFA Futsal World Cup.

“While I am proud to have sealed qualification for the first time, it is important to remain focused as we have the FIFA World Cup to look forward to.

“We had a specific programme in place three months before the start of this tournament and we worked hard,” he said on Tuesday.

In their tournament debut, Afghanistan enjoyed a remarkable campaign, finishing second in Group D ahead of Bahrain and Kuwait before pushing Tajikistan all the way in the quarter-finals, with Mortezaei’s side ultimately suffering a 2-1 defeat after extra-time.

The disappointment of missing out on the semi-finals, however, was erased with a stunning 5-3 win in the first playoff against Iraq before Kyrgyz Republic’s challenge was easily dealt with to confirm their FIFA Futsal World Cup ticket.

“We have an average age of 22 in our team. We want to celebrate this happiness and start working on a programme which we will coordinate with our federation and CAFA for our preparation for Uzbekistan 2024,” said Mortezaei.

All-rounder Marcus Stoinis smashed 62 after he took a wicket on Tuesday to guide Lucknow Super Giants to an IPL win on the eve of Australia’s T20 World Cup team announcement.

Stoinis top-scored in Lucknow’s modest chase of 145 against Mumbai Indians as the home team achieved their target with four wickets and four balls to spare, AFP reported.

Lucknow moved to third spot in the 10-team table led by Rajasthan Royals. Five-time winners Mumbai remained ninth above wooden spooners Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Lucknow skipper KL Rahul fell for 28, hours after being snubbed by India’s selectors, who on Tuesday afternoon named the team for the T20 World Cup in June.

Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya was named deputy to India captain Rohit Sharma for the World Cup in the West Indies and the U.S., but the star all-rounder fell for a duck and his team to their seventh loss in 10 matches.

“Sometimes you will be down, sometimes you will be up, just that you got to give it your all,” Pandya said. “Looks difficult but a lot of things that you can learn from this game.”

Birthday boy Rohit, who turned 37, Japsrit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav are three of the four players from Mumbai to make the Indian team for the World Cup starting June 2, AFP reported.

Mumbai managed 144-7 courtesy Nehal Wadhera’s 46 and an unbeaten 18-ball 35 by Tim David after being invited to bat first.

Pandya said Wadhera will “play a lot of IPL and (represent) India eventually”.

Lucknow left-arm quick Mohsin Khan took two wickets after he struck first with the wicket of Rohit, who was caught out for four by Stoinis at extra cover.

Stoinis got the key wicket of Yadav for 10 and Mumbai were soon 27-4 when Naveen-ul-Haq got Pandya for a first-ball duck.

But Pandya returned to take two wickets with his pace bowling.

Stoinis turned up with the bat to raise his second fifty — he has also hit a century — of the season with hours left for the Australian selectors to announce the T20 team on Wednesday.

He fell to Afghanistan spinner Mohammad Nabi after his 45-ball knock laced with seven fours and two sixes, AFP reported.

Lucknow lost two more wickets to raise Mumbai’s hopes of a turnaround, but Nicholas Pooran steered the team home in the final over.