Adam Gilchrist hit an unbeaten half-century to guide Kings XI Punjab to a six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings on Thursday and remain in contention for the Indian Premier League playoffs.

The Punjab captain, returning to action after recovering from an abdomen injury, compiled an unbeaten 64 in a total of 4-123 in 16.3 overs.

The team’s seamers of Praveen Kumar, Parvinder Awana and Azhar Mahmood had earlier taken two wickets each to restrict Chennai to 7-120 on a lively pitch at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.

Punjab have eight wins and seven losses with one more match to go against Delhi Daredevils.

Chennai finished the preliminaries with eight wins, seven losses and one no-result and other match results will determine their fate.