Punjab Kings won the toss and opted to bowl first in Match 7 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against Chennai Super Kings at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai, on Friday, April 03.PBKS came into the contest on the back of a brilliant win against Gujarat Titans, whereas CSK have entered the contest to recover from their loss to Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati.
CSK vs PBKS: Toss Update
In what is the first match at Chepauk in the ongoing IPL 2026, CSK are batting first at the iconic venue, with the Shreyas
Iyer-led side having asked the hosts to set a target after winning the toss on Friday. PBKS entered the contest without any changes to their playing XI, while CSK handed a debut to Prashant Veer, whom they had bought for INR 14.20 crore at the auction.
CSK drop Matthew Short from the Playing XI; PBKS unchanged
Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad did not explain any reason regarding leaving out Matthew Short from the Playing XI at the toss presentation. However, the fact that they brought in Prashant Veer suggests that Short was dropped to hand a chance to the uncapped cricketer who has been the talk of the town ever since CSK snapped him up for a hefty amount at the mini-auction.
CSK vs PBKS: What did the captains say?
Shreyas Iyer, PBKS captain
I'm going to bowl first since it's their first match on the home ground. I feel the wicket is fresh. It would be a great thing to know how the wicket is going to play. So, based on those, I've taken this decision. (How is the hand?) It's fresh. (That's all you'll give me?) I just want to be positive in the way I talk. And I feel that if I say something negative about myself, it rubs off my body. So, I just want to stay, keep it cool and composed.
(About their recent record against CSK) It gives us immense confidence considering the line-up that we have. Also, the motivation we got from the last game, definitely we'll rub on today. They also have a tremendous team who have been playing consistently great cricket over the years. So, we just want to play to the best of our abilities and see to it that we put the best foot forward today.
(Corrections from the first game) I personally feel that I just like to dig on the bowlers when the chips are down. I don't want to get into that mindset where the bowler gets onto me. So, that's the mindset shift I did last season. And this season coming into IPL, I had a similar mindset. There are so many other batsmen, especially the youngsters, who are coming in. The way they hit the ball clear, they clear the boundary so easily. I feel like that also rubs on into everyone in the team. And when you see such confident and optimistic lads around you, it rubs into myself as well. No, we are going with the same team.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK captain
Well, I think, you know, for me it looks a bit on the drier side. And I don't think so it will change too much. More often than not, it will remain the same. And, you know, it's the early part of the April, so I don't think dew will be a key factor in the second inning. So I think, runs on the board and definitely you can depend on this track.
(How do you approach this from a batting perspective?) Well, nothing, you know, we just accept we had a tough condition to face. And, you know, one off game where you're trying to go positive, but you can tend to make a few mistakes and a few errors. And that is something which can happen in a T20 game. But nevertheless, you know, what has gone is gone. We just try and focus on this game and how you can come better and better prepared. That is how you focus on this game. So I think it's just about taking game by game and trying to improve each and every game.
(How comfortable are you with the way that you've set it [batting] up?) No, I think that has been the key for CSK as a franchise, you know, having that good top order. And I think opening partnership is something that has given us decent success in the winning season as well. So I think that is something which we thought about coming into this season. And I felt nothing better than having Sanju and me open the batting. So that was just the thought process. Yeah, we got one change - Prashant Veer comes in for Matt Short.
CSK vs PBKS: Playing XIs
Chennai Super Kings
Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmed, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed
Impact Substitutes: Jamie Overton, Rahul Chahar, Matthew Short, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Gurjapneet Singh
Punjab Kings
Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Substitutes: Suryansh Shedge, Priyansh Arya, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Hemant Brar
