Chennai Super Kings continue to be without the services of the legendary MS Dhoni, with the former India captain remaining sidelined with a calf injury. CSK in their match against Kolkata Knight Riders remained unchanged from their previous game and believed in their winning combination.
Chennai beat Delhi Capitals in their last match, courtesy Sanju Samson, who hit the first century of the Indian Premier League 2026 season. CSK rode on Samson’s century to beat DC by 23 runs in their home match on 11 April.
KKR, on the other hand, brought Varun Chakravarthy into their lineup. The mystery spinner has been sidelined since the team’s second game of the season. Varun injured his finger while catching against SRH but has now returned to the playing XI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday, April 14.
The inclusion of Varun meant that pacer Navdeep Saini, who played against Lucknow Super Giants in the last game, dropped the spinner in the playing eleven.
CSK vs KKR: PLAYING XIS
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi.
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Dewald Brevis, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Khaleel Ahmed
WHY IS MS DHONI NOT PLAYING?
CSK talisman MS Dhoni managed a calf strain while training in the nets ahead of CSK’s opening game in the IPL. Dhoni is firing in the nets, but according to the CSK camp, they are in no rush to rush a wicket-taker in their team.
In place of Dhoni, Sanju Samson kept the wickets for CSK and showed signs of returning to his innings best against Delhi Capitals.
Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and opted to bowl first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Rahane said that the team is on a roll in the league and was on the wrong side of the result in the last match.
“I think the last game was really good for us. Unfortunately the result didn’t go our way. But I thought the kind of cricket we played, the guys got such confidence from the last game. It’s all about starting again. It’s important when things don’t go your way, it’s important to have that belief, stay positive and have those small, small moments in the T20 format, it’s really important to start with the ball and now we’re looking forward to chasing the target,” Rahane said at party on Tuesday, April 14.
Rahane’s KKR will be looking to win their first match of the IPL 22026 season.
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– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
14 Apr 2026 19:27 IST
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