When Kings XI Punjab took the field against the Chennai Super Kings in Pune on Sunday, May 20, there was a glimmer of hope for R Ashwin's team of making the play-offs.
With the Delhi Daredevils handing the Mumbai Indians a 11 run loss earlier on Sunday evening, Punjab were in with a chance -- but they had to win by 53 runs or more.
That was not to be as Lungi Ngidi bowled the most economical figures of this season's IPL and uprooted Punjab's innings right at the start.
The young South African had 'Universe Boss' Chris Gayle caught behind for a duck in just the second over and had the in-form K L Rahul bowled in the fourth.
From there on, it was a free fall for KXIP.
Only Karun Nair (54 off 26 balls) put up a fight as the Kings lost wickets at regular intervals.
Ngidi then took the life out of the Kings' lower middle order, taking out Ashwin and Andrew Tye for ducks.
Punjab folded for 153 inside 20 overs and had to restrict CSK to 100 or under if they had to qualify for the play-offs.
CSK elevated Harbhajan Singh and Deepak Chahar in the batting order to accelerate the scoring.
It was all over for Punjab in the 15th over when Chahar took 21 runs off Ashwin to go past the 100 run mark.
Eventually, M S Dhoni and Suresh Raina saw CSK through.
