Table of Contents

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field first against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad in Match 27 of IPL 2026 on Friday. Ruturaj Gaikwad made the call to chase, citing a good batting track that he did not expect to change much through the course of the game.

Ishan Kishan admitted Hyderabad would have preferred to bat first and set a total, a rare case of both captains wanting to bat, meaning one of them had to accept a result they did not want.

SRH vs CSK: Chennai with same XI, Hyderabad made one change

The headline from the Chennai camp is Khaleel Ahmed is ruled out with a quad injury, meaning Chennai have had to reshuffle their bowling attack, while MS Dhoni once again does not feature in the playing XI despite remaining with the squad as he continues his recovery from the calf strain.

Gurjapneet Singh and Mukesh Choudhary lead the pace attack in Khaleel's absence. For Hyderabad, Dilshan Madushanka comes in for Harsh Dubey to provide more swing with the new ball. a tactical call Ishan Kishan explained at the toss, pointing to the ball moving early on this surface.

SRH vs CSK: What the captains said at the Toss

Gaikwad was upbeat and measured in equal measure. He spoke about CSK gradually doing the basics right since their second game of the season and pointed to the bowling performances of Noor Ahmad and Anshul Kamboj in the last match as genuine encouragement.

The tone was that of a captain who can feel his team building momentum after a dreadful start and does not want anything to disrupt that rhythm. Kishan acknowledged the ball would move early and asked his batters to watch it carefully in the first few overs, sound advice on a surface that can be deceptive despite looking like a belter, to borrow Gaikwad's own description from the toss.

Also READ: Pat Cummins' return date revealed: Here is when the SRH captain will join IPL 2026

SRH vs CSK: Where Both Teams Stand

Both CSK and SRH come into this game level on points, two wins and three losses each, though SRH sit fifth with a positive NRR of plus 0.576 boosted by their 57-run thrashing of Rajasthan Royals, while CSK sit eighth with a negative NRR of minus 0.846 that reflects their poor start to the season.

The direction of travel however is very much in CSK's favour, two consecutive wins after three straight losses is the kind of momentum that changes the feel of an entire campaign. Head-to-head history strongly favours CSK who lead this rivalry 15-7 in IPL history.

SRH vs CSK playing XIs

SRH: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Dilshan Madushanka, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga.

CSK: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Dewald Brevis, Jamie Overton, Matthew Short, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh.