IPL 2026: INR 14.2 cr Prashant Veer gets Chennai debut as Punjab elect to field first at Chepauk

In Match 7 of IPL 2026 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the Punjab Kings won the toss and chose to field first against the Chennai Super Kings.

Shreyas Iyer's reasoning was simple: it was CSK's first home game of the season, and the pitch was new, so it was easy to put the other team in and see what the surface had to offer early on. Ruturaj Gaikwad on the other hand seemed perfectly content to bat first on what he described as a dry surface that he does not expect to change much through the course of the game.

Story of CSK camp with MS Dhoni and debut IPL game for Prashant Veer

The headline from the CSK camp is the continue absence of MS Dhoni, who has been ruled out for atleast 6 games with a calf strain. It is a significant blow for CSK and forces a restructuring of their entire batting order. Sanju Samson, who came to CSK in the trade that sent Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran to Rajasthan Royals, is again taking the gloves and opens the batting alongside Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Youngster Ayush Mhatre continues in the CSK side and Prashant Veer comes into the XI replacing Matthew Short, bolstering the local spin options alongside Afghanistan's Noor Ahmad. The pace attack is led by the left-arm variety of Khaleel Ahmed alongside the experience of Matt Henry.

PBKS fresh from their win over Gujarat Titans

PBKS have gone unchanged from the side that won their opener against Gujarat Titans, sticking with the combination that delivered a confidence-boosting result.

Cooper Connolly, the breakout star from that game, retains his place alongside a powerful middle order featuring Marcus Stoinis and Shashank Singh. Their bowling attack remains pace-heavy with Arshdeep Singh and Xavier Bartlett leading the charge, supported by the leg-spin of Yuzvendra Chahal.

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CSK vs PBKS: What Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad said at the toss

Shreyas Iyer addressed his recent hand injury directly and with characteristic positivity. "I just want to be positive in the way I talk. If I say something negative about myself it rubs off on my body. I want to keep it cool and composed," he said. He also pointed to the aggressive intent of his young batters as a key confidence boost following their opening win.

Gaikwad acknowledged CSK's difficult recent history but was measured and forward-looking in his response. "We had a tough time last season but that's all in the past, it's about taking it game by game. A strong top order and a good start by the openers has been the key for CSK."

"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 skipper said, sounding like a captain who has made his peace with what happened before and is fully focused on what comes next.

CSK vs PBKS: Playing XIs

CSK: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Matt Henry, Khaleel Ahmed. Impact: Rahul Chahar, Gurjapneet Singh, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Matt Short, Jamie Overton.

PBKS: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal. Impact: Priyansh Arya, Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, Suryansh Shedge.