Coming after a disappointing last season where Chennai Super Kings (CSK) finished at the bottom of the points table, the five-time champions failed to turn around their fortunes as they kickstarted their Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) campaign in horror fashion tonight (March 30). After being put to bat first by Rajasthan Royals (RR), Chennai lost both openers in Ruturaj Gaikwad (6 off 11 balls) and Sanju Samson (6 off 7 balls), cheaply.
The fall of wickets did not stop there for CSK as Ayush Mhatre and Matt Short followed suit soon, departing for a two-ball duck and 2 off 7 balls respectively as they ended up losing four wickets in the powerplay.
The dismal batting performance brought back CSK’s batting struggles from last season and the fans trolled the franchise brutally on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Some fans even highlighted that CSK can’t perform without MS Dhoni, who is currently unavailable since he is rehabbing for a calf strain.
Check some of the best reactions below.
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Speaking about the RR vs CSK match, Chennai’s struggles continued beyond the powerplay as the Royals made continuous breakthroughs. After the top four walked back to the pavilion for single-digit scores, CSK brought in Sarfaraz Khan as Impact Player. While Sarfaraz looked promising, he too fell prey for 17 off 12 balls as Chennai lost half their side.
Young uncapped wicketkeeper Kartik Sharma, who was bought at the IPL 2026 auction for a record amount of INR 14.2 crores and is touted as a replacement for MS Dhoni, walked out next. Kartik showed promise but could not convert his innings into a big knock and was dismissed for 17 off 15 balls.
India and CSK all-rounder Shivam Dube also failed to make much impact and departed for six off four balls.
At the time of writing this report, the CSK scoreboard reads 74/7 in 10.2 overs with Jamie Overton and Noor Ahmad currently batting in the middle.
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