Fear of injury for ČSK! Sanju Samson leaves the field midway through the match against Gujarat Titans

Sanju Samson (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) NEW DELHI: Chennai Super Kings suffered an early injury blow in their must-win IPL 2026 clash against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as wicketkeeper Sanju Samson was forced off the field after injuring his finger while keeping wicket.The incident occurred in just the second over of the innings during Spencer Johnson’s spell on Sai Sudharsan. Johnson fires one well down the leg side and Samson lunges at a full length to stop the ball but it suddenly changes direction and hits him on the toes. The delivery eventually resulted in five wides – a boundary plus another run for a wide.Samson immediately received the attention of a physio before deciding to leave the field.Urvil Patel then took over the wicketkeeping duties as Samson’s replacement behind the stumps.Earlier, Chennai Super Kings won the toss and decided to bat first against Gujarat Titans.CSK made two changes to their playing eleven, bringing in Matt Short for Prashant Veer and Gurjapneet Singh in place of Akeal Hosein.Meanwhile, Gujarat Titans made one change as Sai Kishore replaced Prasidh Krishna.GT came into the competition second in the points table with 16 points from 13 matches and they aim to consolidate their top two position with a win over Chennai Super Kings at home.Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings are sixth in the table with 12 points from 13 matches and almost missed out on the playoffs. CSK need a massive win against GT, along with favorable results in other matches to keep their slim qualification hopes alive.Teams:Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Urvil Patel, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Matt Short, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh.Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Arshad Khan, Mohammed Siraj.