Today in the seventh match of IPL 2026, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will face Punjab Kings (PBKS). This match will be held at Chennai's home ground MA Chidambaram Stadium, which has been a stronghold for the team for years. However, in the last two seasons, the team has faced a lot of defeats at home and it is going to face a tough challenge in the match against Punjab on Friday.

In such a situation, to get the first win at home and this season, the entire team will have to give a strong all-round performance.

last season finisher Chennai Super Kings The beginning of this season was not good for. He had to face a crushing defeat in the very first match against Rajasthan Royals. The entire team was then bundled out for just 127 runs in front of Rajasthan's bowling and lost within 13 overs. Now captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and his team will try to forget that defeat and start their campaign afresh.

Will Brevis return?

Chennai will once again have to play without former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who did not go to Guwahati for the last match. However, he will be present in the dugout against Punjab, which will prove to be important in boosting the morale of the team as well as in making strategies. At the same time, the situation is not clear regarding the playing of young batsman Dewald Brevis. However, he was seen practicing batting in the nets before the match, which has increased his chances of playing.

The team will need good performance from its batting order.

Especially Sanju Samson will have to prove himself, who failed in his first match for CSK. Sarfaraz Khan, who came as an impact player, was also ineffective. As the tournament progresses, more expectations will be expected from young players like Karthik Sharma. The condition of bowling was also similar, where international cricketers like Matt Henry and Noor Ahmed could not stop 15 year old batsman Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Although Khalil Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj had impressed.

Waiting for victory since 2 years

Chennai will not only have to open its account, but will also have to end the two-year long wait for a win against Punjab.

Actually, in 2024, 2 matches were played between the two teams, in which Chennai won the first match but Punjab lost the second match. Then in the 2025 season, Punjab won both the matches. In such a situation, Chennai faces the challenge of breaking the streak of 3 consecutive defeats. As far as the records of both the teams are concerned, 32 matches have been played between them and both have won 16-16 matches.

Talking about Punjab Kings, the team had won against Gujarat Titans in a tough match. The star of their victory was young Australian batsman Cooper Connolly, who won the trust of the team by playing an unbeaten inning of 70 runs in the chase.

The bowling of Punjab Kings also looks strong. Veteran spinner Yuzvendra Chahal impressed with his line and variety of pace against the Titans, while Vijaykumar Vaishak and Marco Jansson also put the brakes on Gujarat's batsmen.

Such is the squad of CSK and PBKS

CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Dewald Brewis, MS Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dubey, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Jamie Overton, Khalil Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapaneet Singh, Mukesh Chaudhary, Noor Ahmed, Akeal Hosein, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, Zakari Faulks, Spencer Johnson, Karthik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Ayush Mhatre.

PBKS: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Priyansh Arya, Harnoor Singh, Mitchell Owen, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Yanson, Marcus Stoinis, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Vijaykumar Vaishak, Yash Thakur, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey, Vishal Nishad, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh, Paila Avinash, Shashank Singh.