Chennai, May 18: Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad wins toss and opts to bat first in the crucial match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Chepauk on Monday. The fans were eagerly awaiting for the confirmation on MS Dhoni's availability, however, Gaikwad announced that he is not playing the match against SRH today.
Ruturaj Gaikwad on being asked if MS Dhoni is playing tonight. He replied, "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."
Ruturaj Gaikwad's statement rested all the speculations around MS Dhoni playing the last game at Chepauk in their home ground.
The CSK vs SRH clash is a crucial IPL 2026 clash as their qualification to the playoffs depend on the outcome of the match. If SRH wins the match today, they will qualify for the playoff and if CSK wins, they will keep their hopes of qualification alive.
Teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Spencer Johnson
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Akeal Hosein, Matthew Short, Matt Henry, MS Dhoni, Shreyas Gopal, Dian Forrester, Zakary Foulkes, Rahul Chahar, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Madhwal, Aman Khan, Macneil Noronha
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Smaran Ravichandran, Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Aniket Verma, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Dilshan Madushanka, Gerald Coetzee, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Krains Fuletra, Onkar Tarmale, RS Ambrish, Amit Kumar
