Bengaluru: Five-time winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have won the toss and elected to bowl first against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their IPL 2026 game at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.
RCB will be aiming to make it two out of two wins, while CSK will be keen to get off the mark in the points table. Both teams are fielding unchanged playing elevens for this marquee clash.
“Obviously, high scoring ground. Looks like a good pitch, there’s going to be some runs. We’ll look to restrict them as much as possible. MS is getting back slowly, sometimes it takes time, if he’s ready to play, it’ll be soon. The first game was disappointing, but our batting was much better in the second game. Everyone is feeling confident,” said CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.
CSK have an overall 21-13 head-to-head record against RCB. But when it comes to the games at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, it’s 6-5 in favour of RCB. “We were looking to bowl first, but it looks like a hard pitch, so we’re happy to bat. It’s a fresh wicket. The boys played well in the last game and we’re looking to continue here. The way everyone played in the last game was tremendous, everyone had clarity in their role and they are high in confidence,” said RCB captain Rajat Patidar.
In the pitch report, Ian Bishop and Faf du Plessis observed one square boundary is measuring 61 metres, while the other side stands at 68m and the straight boundary is 74m. They also opined the surface is good for batting and early wickets with the new ball could be decisive, though spinners may still have a role.
Playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Matt Henry, and Khaleel Ahmed
Impact Substitutes: Matthew Short, Akeal Hosein, Kartik Sharma, Ramakrishna Ghosh, and Gurjapneet Singh
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, and Jacob Duffy
Impact Substitutes: Suyash Sharma, Jacob Bethell, Rasikh Salam Dar, Kanishk Chouhan, and Venkatesh Iyer
(IANS)
