Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad will have to deliver right from the start as Chennai Super Kings look to register their opening victory of IPL 2026 when they host Delhi Capitals in Chennai on Saturday. After three defeats across three different venues, CSK’s start has lacked momentum, and the franchise will need clear improvements in both departments if it is to stay in contention against the stronger sides.
The pressure on the top order is heightened by team balance concerns, with the absence of Dewald Brevis weighing on the batting setup. The South African batter is expected to return from injury for the clash against Delhi Capitals. One uncertainty remains in the CSK camp: MS Dhoni has not featured this season because of a calf issue, and his availability is still not confirmed.
For CSK, the opening platform provided by Samson and Gaikwad is crucial—if they do not get going early, the innings can quickly slip away. Kartik Sharma also needs to make a meaningful impact in the middle overs, while Prashant Veer has shown good returns in the lower order. Among the batters, Sarfaraz Khan has been the standout for consistency, and he will be keen to make his point with another influential showing.
On the bowling front, CSK have struggled to control run flow. In their match against RCB, the bowlers conceded 250 runs, a total that proved too demanding to chase. With the exception of Khaleel Ahmed, the rest of the attack leaked at least 12 runs per over, highlighting how difficult it has been for CSK to apply pressure once the batting side gets traction.
Chepauk test and Delhi’s response
- Saturday’s fixture will be CSK’s second match of the season at Chepauk.
- Earlier at the venue, PBKS chased 210 against the hosts on April 3.
- Delhi Capitals arrive after suffering a narrow one-run defeat to Gujarat Titans in Delhi.
- Led by Axar Patel, Delhi will be looking to build momentum and convert their recent setback into a strong all-round performance.
- The broader talking point from Delhi’s Titans game involves David Miller, who declined a single on the penultimate delivery to force a tie, but the plan fell short—an incident that may linger, even if it is unlikely to be discussed in the dressing room.
- Still, the moment could weigh on Miller’s mind, given that he backed himself to finish the match for his team but ended up just missing the target.
Form watch: powerplay lessons and bowlers’ roles
- On Wednesday, pacer Mukesh Kumar conceded 55 runs in his four-over spell, prompting him to reassess his approach during the powerplay.
- With Mitchell Starc unavailable, Lungi Ngidi has taken on the responsibility and has continued to bowl with frugality since the T20 World Cup.
- KL Rahul also looked to settle after a couple of failures, finding welcome runs with the bat.
- In the top order, Nitish Rana remains the only other batter tasked with making a significant impact in addition to Rahul’s efforts.
Squads
Chennai Super Kings
- Ruturaj Gaikwad (c)
- Dewald Brevis
- MS Dhoni
- Urvil Patel
- Sanju Samson
- Shivam Dube
- Ayush Mhatre
- Khaleel Ahmed
- Nathan Ellis
- Gurjapneet Singh
- Noor Ahmad
- Akeal Hosein
- Prashant Veer
- Sarfaraz Khan
- Matt Henry
- Rahul Chahar
- Zakary Foulkes
- Ramakrishna Ghosh
- Mukesh Choudhary
- Matthew Short
- Aman Khan
- Kartik Sharma
- Jamie Overton
- Shreyas Gopal
- Anshul Kamboj
Delhi Capitals
- Abhishek Porel
- Karun Nair
- KL Rahul
- Nitish Rana
- Sameer Rizvi
- Tristan Stubbs
- Axar Patel
- Ashutosh Sharma
- Dushmantha Chameera
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Mukesh Kumar
- Vipraj Nigam
- Mitchell Starc
- Tripurana Vijay
- David Miller
- Ben Duckett
- Auqib Nabi Dar
- Pathum Nissanka
- Lungi Ngidi
- Prithvi Shaw
- Kyle Jamieson
- Ajay Jadav Mandal
- Madhav Tiwari
- T Natarajan
- Sahil Parakh
