IPL 2026, CSK vs SRH 63rd Match Match Preview – CSK’s playoff hopes on the line against SRH in Chennai
Big picture: Will MS Dhoni play?
Once upon a time, MS Dhoni said he wanted to play his last game at Chepauk. He is 44 years old. Tomorrow will be the last game of the IPL 2026 season in Chennai. What’s going to happen? Will he play? Nobody knows. Dhoni came to training, like he has done all season. He trained for 30 to 40 minutes, facing throwdowns and spin bowlers. Then he left.Chennai Super Kings (CSK), in sixth place, need to win both their remaining games to make the playoffs. They are in this situation because of a poor start, but also, they gave up a winning position in the away game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Coach Stephen Fleming said the team had been hurt by that performance. SRH, in third place, have a chance to make them hurt even more and also fortify their chances of making it through to the playoffs.
Pat Cummins’ team are coming off a week-long break where the players were given permission to go off and do their own thing. Ishan Kishan, for example, zipped home to launch the Jharkhand T20 league. Will that help them erase the memory of 86 all out against Gujarat Titans? Monday will provide the answer.
Chennai Super Kings: LWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: LWLWW
In the spotlight: Dewald Brevis and Sakib Hussain
Dewald Brevis missed the first three matches of the season due to injury, and since’s he come in he’s been asked to bat at potentially one spot lower than his best position. He’s scored only 99 runs in six innings. Brevis has had sparks, not least in Lucknow when he started with a first-ball six and blossomed with a no-look six, but is yet to play a substantial innings. Monday would be a good time for that.Fast bowler Sakib Hussain has been a revelation for SRH, bowling in the back 10 of the innings and harnessing the reverse swing that comes into play in Hyderabad. That advantage won’t be there in Chennai. The way he copes with that could go some way to deciding the game’s outcome. He’s currently their second highest wicket-taker with 12 wickets.
Dian Forrester, the replacement player for Jamie Overton, has joined CSK and had a hit on Sunday.
Chennai Super Kings: 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 3 Urvil Patel, 4 Kartik Sharma, 5 Dewald Brevis, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Prashant Veer, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Anshul Kamboj, 10 Spencer Johnson, 11 Noor Ahmad, 12 Mukesh Choudhary
SRH might think about bringing in Harsh Dubey given CSK are a right-hander heavy line-up.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Travis Head, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 R Smaran, 6 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 7 Salil Arora, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Harsh Dubey, 10 Shivang Kumar, 11 Eshan Malinga, 12 Sakib Hussain
The pitch set to be used on Monday is likely to aid batting. SRH’s pace-bowling coach Varun Aaron suggested a winning total would be around 210. CSK fast bowler Spencer Johnson saw a reason to still feel happy: he reckoned the bounce on offer might be more than what was on offer in Hyderabad and therefore give CSK an advantage.
“I think my pace was okay the other night, and hopefully the more games I play, the more comfortable I’ll feel.”
CSK fast bowler Spencer Johnson
“In the course of 14 league games, there does come one of these games for every team and if you overthink it and you overanalyse it, that really leads to the detriment of your team”
SRH fast bowling coach Varun Aaron on putting the 86 all out against GT behind them
