CSK lost by 7 wickets against LSG (Image: IPL/BCCI)
Chennai Super Kings batting coach Michael Hussey admitted the five-time champions now have no room for error after their defeat to Lucknow Super Giants left their IPL 2026 playoff hopes hanging in the balance.CSK suffered a heavy setback on Friday as LSG comfortably chased down 188, powered by Mitchell Marsh’s 90 off 38 balls on the lively surface of the Ekana Stadium. The defeat left Chennai stranded on 12 points from 13 matches, meaning they now likely need to win both of their remaining league matches, while also depending on other results to qualify for the play-offs.Despite the difficult situation, Hussey remained upbeat and said the team will approach every remaining game as a knockout game.“Well, I mean, I actually love this time of the tournament because it’s like every game is like a final, you know, and we’re in that situation right now,” Hussey said, adding that CSK now need to win both of their remaining games while relying on a few more results to go in their favour.“We’re going to have to win our last two games. I mean, I haven’t studied the table that closely. Yeah, there’s a lot of teams fighting for that, probably the last few spots in the top four,” he said.“The pressure is really on everyone here (tournament stage), not just us but all the other teams. And you can see some crazy things happening. So we still have a chance… we still believe we can do it,” he said during the post-match press conference.Speaking after the match during the post-match presentation, Gaikwad remained calm despite the setback and insisted that the qualification scenario was “simple” for his side going forward.”Well, the first challenge is to get to Chennai. It’s a long flight. After that, just make sure we go back and improve what are the areas we need to improve and yes, try to adapt and evaluate the conditions as quickly as possible and it’s a simple calculation for us. Win every game how many games we play. So I think nothing simple. I mean, it’s simple, nothing complicated. So here it is quite easy for us. There is nothing to fear. Just make sure we have a good day. Let that apply to anyone having a good day and we hope we hope to turn things around,” Gaikwad said.
