In the IPL 2026 match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) emerged victorious by 32 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
This was CSK`s second win from five matches in the tournament.
Following the win, former Team India cricketer Piyush Chawla heaps praise on Ruturaj Gaikwad`s captaincy. He said that the CSK`s skipper was smart enough to bring in Khaleel Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj to dismiss KKR`s opening batsman Sunil Narine.
“Akeal Hosein did not come to bowl in the first six overs because KKR sent Sunil Narine to open, hoping to exploit Akeal. But Ruturaj was smart. As soon as he saw Narine coming out to open, he used Khaleel Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj with the new ball. That was a really good piece of captaincy because both bowlers got rid of KKR’s opening pair of Finn Allen and Narine,” he said on Star Sports.
He also stated that Ruturaj made good use of his bowling options during the match against KKR.
“As soon as Narine was dismissed, Akeal Hosein was brought into the attack and he did his job brilliantly. The way Ruturaj rotated his bowlers was really good to watch. He was just going for the kill, and that is what you want from your captain. As a captain, your thought process should be to go for the kill because when you are taking wickets, you are building pressure on the batting team. When Noor Ahmad and Akeal Hosein were bowling together, Ruturaj made sure the game did not go too deep. He just wanted to finish it off soon, and that is exactly what he did,” said Chawla.
After this win, CSK is now placed in the eighth position with two wins and three losses. They have a net run rate (NRR) of -0.846 and four points.
The Super Kings will gear up to lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 18 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad.
IPL 2026, Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Full Squads
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), MS Dhoni (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Kartik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Urvil Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Zak Foulkes, Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Gurjapneet Singh, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Travis Head, Liam Livingstone, Ishan Kishan (WK), Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse, Zeeshan Ansari, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Mavi, Jack Edwards, Harsh Dubey, Salil Arora (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Smaran Ravichandran, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Aniket Verma, Shivang Kumar, Krains Bhaveshbhai Fuletra, Omkar Tarmale.
