Ruturaj Gaikwad-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will host Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 44th match of IPL 2026. The El Clasico of IPL will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from 7:30 PM IST. The toss will take place at 7:00 PM IST. Both teams are in desperate need of a win at this stage of the tournament. MI and CSK have a fierce rivalry since the tournament’s inception and this could be the most-watched game of the season. As the fans eagerly wait for the much-awaited contest, here we have a look at the team that holds the lead –
MI and CSK have locked horns 42 times. The Mumbai-based franchise has a 22-20 lead over CSK. The Yellow Army handed a big 103-run defeat to MI in their previous league stage fixture on April 23.
Courtesy of Sanju Samson’s unbeaten century, CSK put on a huge total of 101 on the board. None of the MI openers could play a big knock and they were bowled out for 104, losing the game by 103 runs. Akeal Hosein took a four-fer while Noor Ahmed scalped 2 wickets for CSK in their win.
With only 2 wins in 8 matches, MI sit in the 9th spot in the IPL 2026 points table. They need to win rest of their six matches to make it to the playoffs. CSK have 3 wins and 6 points from 8 matches. They need to win at least 5 of their next six games to qualify for the playoffs.
Are MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma fit to play?
MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are not fit to play yet and they look all but set to miss this fixture. Dhoni is down with a calf strain while Rohit suffered a hamstring injury a few weeks back. Dhoni hasn’t played a game in IPL 2026 yet.
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Sanju Samson, Urvil Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Veer, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Matthew Short, MS Dhoni, Matt Henry, Spencer Johnson, Zakary Foulkes, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Chahar, Akash Madhwal, Aman Khan.
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Robin Minz, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Rawat, Raghu Sharma, Krish Bhagat, Raj Bawa, Rohit Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Quinton de Kock, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Sherfane Rutherford, Mayank Markande, Danish Malewar, Mohammed Salahuddin Izharuddin.
