Hyderabad: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Match 27 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday. Dilshan Madushanka has come in place of Harsh Dubey in SRH, while Matthew Short replaced Akeal Hosein in CSK.
SRH currently sit fourth on the points table, having secured two wins from five matches. Their season has been a bit inconsistent, but they’ve managed important victories against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). With the advantage of playing at home, SRH will be looking to build on those positives and add two valuable points to their tally.
On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have regained some form after a difficult phase that saw them lose three matches in a row. They’ve responded well with consecutive wins over KKR and Delhi Capitals (DC). Despite this resurgence, CSK are still placed eighth in the standings, and the five-time champions will be aiming to keep the momentum going and move higher up the table with another strong performance.
After winning the toss, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said, “We are going to bowl first. Looks like a really good track, won’t change much, so we look to chase. Good to be up from the bottom. From the second game, we started doing the basics right. The key is to be consistent. Last game, I felt Noor bowled really well, and it’s good to have him back on track, and even Anshul bowling really well at the death. In your language, it looks like a belter, but we have to assess it.”
While after losing the toss, SRH skipper Ishan Kishan said, “I think we would have batted first. Looks like a good wicket, so we want to put up a good total. You have to bat for the team and not for individual performances. We just have to take it game by game, and it doesn’t matter where we are right now because it’s a long tournament. I think the ball is going to move a bit in the beginning, and the batters have to watch the ball and play well. Dilshan Madushanka comes in for Harsh Dubey for more swing upfront.”
Playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson(wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Dewald Brevis, Jamie Overton, Matthew Short, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh
Impact substitutes: Ayush Mhatre, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Matt Henry
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora(wk), Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivang Kumar, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Eshan Malinga
Impact substitutes: Smaran Ravichandran, Harsh Dubey, Dilshan Madhushanka, Liam Livingstone, Harshal Patel
(IANS)
