Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have been hit with a huge blow as Dewald Brevis is missing from their playing XI for their first game of the 2026 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati. Brevis’ absence is a huge blow to the five-time champions as they aim to make a winning start to the season, as his aggressive approach in the middle-order was key to their reformed style of play.
Brevis is missing out due to an injury, which is said to be not too serious. However, this could mean he is doubtful from the big clashes against 2025 runners-up Punjab Kings on Friday (April 3) and arch-rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday (April 5).
“Brevis is out. He had a side injury during training. He is rehabbing. Hopefully, won’t be [out] for too long,” said head coach Stephen Fleming in a press conference.
After going unsold in the 2025 IPL mega auction, Brevis was signed as an injury replacement for Gurjapneet Singh by the Super Kings for a salary of ₹ 2.2 crore. He made an instant impact with 225 runs in eight games at a strike rate of 180.00 with two half-centuries. Since his stint with CSK, Brevis has taken international cricket by storm for South Africa, establishing himself as one of the world’s best middle-order batters in T20 cricket. He also scored a century in this year’s SA20 final.
Brevis’s absence is one among many for CSK as legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni is also missing out.
Chennai Super Kings Playing XI: Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Ayush Mhatre, Matthew Short, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma(w), Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed
CSK Impact Player Options:Sarfaraz Khan, Prashant Veer, Rahul Chahar, Gurjapneet Singh, Ramakrishna Ghosh
Rajasthan Royals Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Riyan Parag(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Brijesh Sharma.
RR Impact Player Options: Donovan Ferreira, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Sushant Mishra, Tushar Deshpande
