18 May,2026 07:28 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Ruturaj Gaikwad (Pic: File Pic)
In the IPL 2026 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad has won the toss and elected to bat first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The Super Kings will enter the clash with one change, where Akeal Hosein will come in place of Gurjapneet Singh.
After winning the toss, CSK's skipper Ruturaj said, "We are looking to bat first. Well, it's nothing complicated, it's just simple for us. Take it one game at a time, look to win this one, look to start well, look to assess the conditions well and put your best foot forward. (Asking about the pressure in this game) Well, nothing, not as such, it's just that we have to respect conditions and choose what's the best for the conditions. And yes, I think batting first looks good here now. (Is MS here?) He's still here, but he's not fit enough to play this game. Hopefully we win this one and you'll have a low in the last game. We got just one change. Akeal comes in for Gurjapneet".
On the other hand, SRH's captain Pat Cummins said, "Yeah, it's the tragedy now for us to hopefully qualify. Yeah, we've had about a six-day break, so ready to go. Yeah, that's right. You know, it's T20 cricket, IPL, you've got to kind of buy into a certain style, even if it doesn't work every night and I think our guys have done that really well. But that's your strength. You've got to back your ability. The mood's been great. We know the way we play is probably not going to work every single game, but it's going to be exciting. So, we think it's our best style, so we'll just keep leaning into that aggressiveness. We would have probably had a bowl, but who knows, so not too upset. (Team for today) Same as the last game".
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Spencer Johnson.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (WK), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Ravichandran Smaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (C), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge.
