Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is at their home ground MA Chidambaram Stadium to play their first match of the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). In their first home match of the IPL 2026, CSK is up against Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab Kings (PBKS).
The stadium is at full capacity while the captains walk into the middle for the toss. PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to bowl first in the 7th match of the edition. CSK, led by Ruturaj Gaikwad, receives a warm welcome from their fans at the stadium.
Ian Bishop apologised to the CSK skipper, Ruturaj Gaikwad
After the toss, when Ian Bishop went to talk with the CSK captain, the crowd’s response was so loud that Bishop could not hear properly what Gaikwad told him. After waiting for a while, Bishop stepped closer to Ruturaj Gaikwad so that he could hear him properly. Bishop made an apology to the camera person and to the nai captain for stepping out of the camera frame.
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“I don’t know. I don’t know how long. Let me come closer. I apologise to the cameras. I’m sorry this is dragging on because of the noise and the cheering. I am sorry for not being able to hear you and for dragging this on,” said Bishop while talking to Gaikwad.
The atmosphere was energetic even before the first ball of the match, which showed the love and passion of the local crowd in Chennai for the game. Finally, after the difficulties, Ian Bishop was able to hear the words from the captain’s mouth. The skipper of the home team lost the toss, but he did not look too worried about the toss result.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was hoping for a good opening partnership in the beginning
Ruturaj Gaikwad observed that the pitch was on the drier side and expected to remain the same throughout the match. Keeping the dew factor in mind, the CSK leader wished to get a good total on the board.
“Well, I think, you know, for me it looks a bit on the drier side. And I don’t think it will change too much. More often than not, it will remain the same. And, you know, it’s early part of 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,” Gaikwad said.
He further mentioned that whenever the team got success in the past, the opening pair did a decent job for the team. So, he was hoping for a good partnership in the beginning to set the tone against a strong Punjab Kings.
“I think opening a 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,” he added.
CSK vs PBKS Playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Prashanth Veer, Kartik Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Read More: CSK vs PBKS Impact Players Today: Toss Report, Playing XIs, Latest Updates IPL 2026 Match 7