MS Dhoni missed out as Chennai Super Kings take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their third match of the Indian Premier League 2026. Dhoni is likely to miss out on the first two weeks of the IPL, the franchise had confirmed at the time of the start of the tournament.ย
CSK won the toss and opted to bowl first. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad confirmed that Dhoni is out of this clash too, but stated that he is getting better and will be back soon. “We will bowl first. Obviously, high scoring ground. Looks like a good pitch, there’s going to be some runs. We’ll look to restrict them as much as possible. MS is getting back slowly, sometimes it takes time, if he’s ready to play, it’ll be soon. The first game was disappointing, but our batting was much better in the second game. Everyone is feeling confident. Same team for us,” CSK skipper Gaikwad said at the toss.
Meanwhile, RCB also played the same side, which means that Josh Hazlewood stays out of this clash too, after having missed his team’s opener against SRH. “We were looking to bowl first, but it looks like a hard pitch, so we’re happy to bat. It’s a fresh wicket. The boys played well in the last game and we’re looking to continue here. The way everyone played in the last game was tremendous, everyone had clarity in their role and they vare high in confidence. We’re going with the same side,” RCB captain Rajat Patidar said at the toss.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Matt Henry, Khaleel Ahmed
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy
Chennai Super Kings Impact subs: Matthew Short, Akeal Hosein, Kartik Sharma, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Gurjapneet Singh,
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact subs: Suyash Sharma, Jacob Bethell, Rasikh Salam Dar, Kanishk Chouhan, Venkatesh Iyer
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