CSK vs PBKS, IPL 2026: Chennai Super Kings looks for early reset as buoyant Punjab Kings visits

Chennai Super Kings will be looking to move past a stuttering start to its IPL 2026 campaign when it returns to the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium to take on Punjab Kings here on Friday, April 3.

The five-time champion’s season began with a chastening eight-wicket thumping at the hands of Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati, and it will be concerned by the manner in which its new-look top-order was ambushed by the Royals’ quicks on a helpful wicket. The Super Kings were one of the worst-performing sides in the PowerPlay last season, and the RR clash was a continuation of that form as it collapsed to 41 for four inside the first six overs.

Having gone to great lengths to refresh its batting line-up with the likes of Sanju Samson, Kartik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, and a returning Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK will be hoping that Monday night’s showing was an aberration.

Of equal concern to Gaikwad’s men will be the apparent toothlessness of its bowling, which was put to the sword by the swashbuckling exuberance of Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The bowlers used against RR struggled to create any chances of note, barring one dropped catch off Suryavanshi, a sign which augurs poorly against a powerful batting line-up on a Chepauk wicket that has increasingly tilted in favour of batters in IPL 2025 and the recent T20 World Cup.

First to enter the Chepauk den this season is 2025 runner-up Punjab Kings – buoyed by the news that skipper Shreyas Iyer is likely to be fit to play – which started its season with a creditable win over Gujarat Titans in New Chandigarh. That victory was orchestrated by a mature debut essay from 22-year-old Cooper Connolly, who announced himself on the IPL stage with 72 not out from 44 balls, and was supported by knocks from Prabhsimran Singh.

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The victory was set up by an exceptional display of defensive bowling from quicks Vijaykumar Vyshak and Arshdeep Singh, whose assortment of slower balls and short balls robbed the GT batters of any momentum, and Yuzvendra Chahal, whose experience and guile accounted for two of the Titans’ famed top three.

Perhaps the only area that Ricky Ponting’s charges will want to tighten up is the middle-order collapse that saw it slip from 83 for one to 118 for six before Connolly and the lower-order assumed control.

Punjab Kings’ Prabhsimran Singh and coach Ricky Ponting during a practice session ahead of the IPL match against CSK.
| Photo Credit:
R RAGU

Ponting and Co. will be further encouraged by the knowledge that history is on their side. PBKS has won seven of the last ten encounters between these two sides, including the last three at Chepauk. The meeting at this venue last year was a high-scoring thriller in which CSK, led by Sam Curran’s 88, posted 190 despite a Chahal hat-trick before half-centuries from Shreyas and Prabhsimran guided PBKS to a four-wicket victory with two balls to go.

With a pitch that seems set to favour the batters again and two batting line-ups packed with the potential for power, the question thus becomes whether Friday will be the day the curtain opens properly on CSK’s season, or if PBKS can conquer Chennai once more.

Published on Apr 02, 2026