By Prakash Nair 
Chennai, April 26: There is something almost poetic about the fact that both Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans arrive at today’s match with identical records. Seven games each. Three wins. Four losses. Same points. And yet nobody watching this IPL season would describe these two teams as being in a similar place right now. One is finding its feet. The other is losing them.
Match 37 of IPL 2026 tips off at 3:30 PM IST at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, and the afternoon sun over Chennai is going to be as much a factor as any playing XI decision either captain makes today.
Two Teams, Very Different Moods
Start with CSK, because their last performance genuinely deserves to be talked about. They went to Wankhede and dismantled Mumbai Indians by 103 runs. Not squeezed past them. Not edged them in a close finish. Dismantled them. Sanju Samson batted through the entire innings for an unbeaten century, Akeal Hosein took four wickets for 17 runs, and MI at their own ground were bowled out for 104. That is the kind of win that changes how a team feels about itself heading into the next game.
And Samson. Where do you even begin with what he has done in the last month? The man started this season with three scores in single digits. There were murmurs in cricket circles about whether this CSK experiment was working, whether he was the right fit at this ground in this format. Then something clicked. He has now scored two centuries and a 48 across his last four games. That is not a purple patch anymore. That is a player who has found a completely different level.
Noor Ahmad deserves just as much credit. The Afghan spinner looked unsure of himself in the early weeks his economy rate was a concern, his wicket count was thin. In the last three matches, he has taken five wickets at 6.50 runs an over. For a spinner, in this format, in these conditions, that is outstanding.
Gujarat’s story reads very differently. They lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and before that to Mumbai Indians. Two games, two heavy defeats, a net run rate that has slid to -0.790. Sai Sudharsan scored a brilliant hundred in the RCB game and it still was not enough because nobody around him contributed. That is the GT problem in a nutshell this season. The top order can be breathtaking. When it misfires, the rest of the lineup does not have the experience or the match time to rescue things.
GT’s assistant coach Vijay Dahiya was admirably honest about it before this game. He said the strength of their top order actually works against the middle order because when Gill, Sudharsan, and Buttler are all firing, the players down the order barely get to the crease. They sit in the dugout, game after game, not accumulating match pressure, not building rhythm. And then when one top-order wicket falls cheaply, the middle order walks in cold. It is a structural issue, and acknowledging it openly does not automatically fix it.
Chepauk in the Afternoon
The MA Chidambaram Stadium used to be the place where batting careers went to have nightmares. Slow surface, abrasive red soil, spin from the first over. That version of Chepauk has changed considerably over the last few seasons. Two of the three IPL games played there this year have crossed 200 in the first innings. The ground has softened, in a manner of speaking.
But this match is being played in the afternoon, and that matters. No dew. No evening coolness. Just Chennai heat pressing down from the moment the first ball is bowled. The pitch on which this game is scheduled number six has produced more wins for the team batting first than chasing sides in recent IPL games there. In these conditions, winning the toss and batting could be the smart call.
The ball will grip. It will turn as the game progresses. The heat will make fielding harder and concentration shorter. Every over after the 15th will feel like a physical and mental test for both sets of players.
The Question Marks CSK Are Carrying
The momentum is real, but Chennai are not without problems. Ruturaj Gaikwad is captaining well his tactical decisions have been sharp, but his personal form with the bat has been inconsistent. He is a player who, at his best, opens the innings and sets the tempo. He has not done that reliably this season, and against a pace attack featuring Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj, early wickets could expose the CSK middle order faster than anyone wants.
Ayush Mhatre is still unavailable due to injury, which removes an attacking option at the top. MS Dhoni is recovering from a calf problem and will not play today either, so Samson continues as the wicketkeeper. That arrangement has worked fine, but Dhoni’s absence in the dugout still changes something about the atmosphere around this team his presence, even when not playing, carries a different kind of weight.
Shivam Dube remains a player this CSK batting order needs badly. His role is to come in and attack spin, to take the game away in the middle overs. He has been inconsistent in doing that this season. On a Chepauk surface where Rashid Khan will be looking to turn deliveries sharply in the afternoon heat, Dube’s ability to read and counter Rashid could be a defining contest.
GT’s Make-or-Break Afternoon
Shubman Gill has 297 runs from six innings this season three fifties among them and has been the one batter GT can rely on to show up every single game. He is the captain, the anchor, and often the only reason their total looks respectable. CSK’s new-ball bowlers know exactly what removing him early would do to GT’s innings, and they will plan specifically for that.
Jos Buttler adds international experience in the middle order and can accelerate brutally when given the platform. Rashid Khan is, on his day, capable of winning a game by himself with the ball, and a Chepauk afternoon, where the surface is expected to offer variable bounce and grip, is exactly the kind of setting where Rashid thrives.
Still, Prasidh Krishna has been leaking runs in recent games, which puts additional pressure on Rabada and Siraj to control the powerplay overs and create early breakthroughs. If GT’s pace attack fails to make an impact in the first six, CSK’s batters with Samson in this form could make the game very difficult, very quickly.
The Rivalry and What Rides on It
These two franchises have split their head-to-head meetings right down the middle four wins apiece across all encounters. Today could shift that balance.
More immediately, points are what both camps are thinking about. CSK want to push into the top four and start building genuine playoff momentum. GT want to stop the bleeding two consecutive defeats at this stage of the tournament, when the table is beginning to separate, is not a position any team wants to be in.
For Chennai, a win here consolidates everything they have built in the last few weeks. For Gujarat, a win here is almost a lifeline. That difference in urgency will show up in how both teams approach the toss, the powerplay, and the crunch overs.
Rashid Khan vs Sanju Samson is the contest to sit up for. If Rashid keeps Samson quiet, GT have a chance. If Samson gets after him the way he has been getting after everyone recently, this match could be over as a contest by the 15th over.
For now, everything points towards CSK. The home ground, the recent form, a batter who cannot stop scoring, and a spinner who has quietly become one of the most economical operators in this tournament. But GT have enough quality and enough desperation to make this genuinely competitive.
Afternoon cricket in Chennai. Both teams needing it badly. Should be some game.
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- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
