The 7th match of the Indian Premier League 2026 is a high-stakes encounter as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) host Punjab Kings (PBKS). The match has begun at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday, April 3rd. This fixture marks the first home game of the season for Ruturaj Gaikwad’s CSK, who will be looking to bounce back following an opening-match loss to Rajasthan Royals.
Punjab Kings captain Iyer won the toss and opted to field first. Prashant Veer has been slotted in place of Matthew Short in the CSK playing 11 while Punjab remain unchanged.
CSK vs PBKS IPL 2026: Playing 11
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Playing 11: Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Matt Henry, Khaleel Ahmed.
Impact Player Options: Jamie Overton, Rahul Chahar, Matthew Short, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Gurjapneet Singh.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) Playing 11: Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Impact Player Options: Suryansh Shedge, Priyansh Arya, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Hemant Brar.
PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer did sustain an injury in the last match but is fit to play this game.
CSK vs PBKS IPL 2026: Squads
CSK squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Jamie Overton, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Noor Ahmad, Akeal Hosein, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, Zakary Foulkes, Spencer Johnson, Kartik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Ayush Mhatre
PBKS squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Priyansh Arya, Harnoor Singh, Mitchell Owen, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Marcus Stoinis, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey, Vishal Nishad, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh, Pyla Avinash, Shashank Singh
CSK vs PBKS IPL 2026: Weather and pitch report
According to Accuweather, the match day could probably see an average temperature of 35 degree celsius. The wind gust could be at the speed of 44 km/h with a probability of thunderstorm and precipitation being at zero. The match day would probably see the 4 per cent of cloud cover in the sky.
The MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) pitch in Chennai is renowned for being dry, slow, and highly spin-friendly, particularly as matches progress. It favours spinners and bowlers using variations, while offering limited help to fast bowlers, often resulting in lower-scoring, tactical games where setting a target is advantageous.