That they didn’t lose impetus thereafter was almost entirely down to Curran. He took on the spinners, hitting a six and two fours in the eighth and ninth overs, and kept finding the odd boundary – with his placement on the pull shot standing out – even when PBKS slowed things down with the military-medium cutters of Azmatullah Omarzai and Survansh Shedge.  With Dewald Brevis struggling for fluency with the ball not quite coming on, Curran dominated a fourth-wicket stand of 78.

The defining passage of Curran’s innings came after Brevis had been dismissed, when Iyer chose to give Shedge a third over rather than risk bowling Chahal or Brar against the two left-handers at the crease. Shedge had conceded just 14 off his first two overs, but Curran kept pouncing on his errors now, hitting him for two sixes and two fours in a 26-run over. It set CSK a great death-overs platform at 160 for 4 in 16 overs.

That Shedge had to bowl that over was also an effect of PBKS losing Glenn Maxwell – possibly for the rest of the season – to a broken finger. Maxwell has had a difficult IPL with the bat, but has contributed significantly with his offspin, which PBKS would have welcomed against CSK’s left-handers.

The reduced magnitude of PBKS’s target allowed Prabhsimran and Priyansh Arya breathing room in an opening stand of 44, with both batters able to hit regular boundaries without going after every ball. Iyer joined Prabhsimran at the crease after an accurate bouncer from Khaleel sent Arya back in the fifth over.

Prabhsimran dominated the second-wicket partnership, choosing his moments adroitly and picking off boundaries with powerful hits down the ground as well as scoops and paddles behind the wicket. But a quiet 12th over of cutters from Curran, off which PBKS only scored five runs, dialled up the pressure, with 84 now needed off 48 balls.

It led Prabhsimran to chance his arm against Noor in the 13th over, and produced a drop – by Pathirana at short third – and then a wicket when Prabhsimran picked out Brevis at deep midwicket.

Shreyas, though, chose this moment to take the baton from Prabhsimran, and he proceeded to change gears dramatically. From 28 off 23, he sped to 50 off 32, clearing the boundary twice along the way.

That was just a teaser, as he proceeded to hit 6, 6, 4 off three Pathirana balls in the 17th over. All three were off missed yorkers, but only once did he miss his length by anything other than a marginal amount. Iyer launched that slot ball for six down the ground.

The next one was fuller and nearly in the blockhole, but he got his front leg out of the way and manufactured just enough room for a wristy whip over wide long-on. Then Pathirana landed one in the blockhole, but marginally outside off, and Shreyas opened his bat face to squeeze it between backward point and short third.

With Shashank Singh also finding his six-hitting range at the other end, PBKS were coasting now. There was still room, however, for some nerves.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 194 for 6 in 19.4 overs (Priyansh Arya 23, Shreyas Iyer  72, Prabhsimran Singh 54, Shashnak Singh 23;  Khaleel Ahmed 2-28, Ravindra Jadeja 1-32, Noor Amnad 1-39, Matheesaha Pathirana 2-45) beat Chennai Super Kings 190 in 19.2 overs (Shaik Rasheed 11, Sam Curran 88, Ravindra Jadeja 17, Dewald Brevis 32,MS Dhoni 11; Arshdeep Singh 2-25, Marco Jansen 2-30, Azmatullah Omarzai 1-39, Harpreet Brar 1-21, Yuzvendra  Chahal 4-32) by four wickets