Chennai Super Kings will face Punjab Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Friday in IPL 2026. While CSK suffered a hammering eight-wicket loss against Rajasthan Royals in their opening game, PBKS registered a three-wicket win against Gujarat Titans at home. 

CSK was bowled out for 127 in their opening clash against Rajasthan Royals and they must come up with an improved batting performance. On a tricky Guwahati pitch, CSK batters did not come up with the right shot selection, which led to their downfall.

Furthermore, CSK bowling looked toothless as they were taken to the cleaners by Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Thus, they would want to come up with an improved performance with both bat and ball.

On the other hand, Punjab Kings were in a shoo-in position against Gujarat Titans as they were 110-2 in the run-chase of 163. However, they lost four quick wickets to veer off the track. The Mohali-based franchise would not want to take their foot off the pedal when they are in a dominant position.

Cooper Connolly was a huge positive for PBKS as the young Australian held his nerve to take his team over the line. 

Head to Head: Matches: 32, Won by CSK: 16, Won by PBKS: 16.

Chennai Super Kings Squad: Sanju Samson(w), Ayush Mhatre, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Urvil Patel, Matthew Short, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Akeal Hosein, Sarfaraz Khan, MS Dhoni, Dewald Brevis, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Chahar, Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Aman Khan, Gurjapneet Singh, Zakary Foulkes, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer

Punjab Kings Squad: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Ben Dwarshuis, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Lockie Ferguson, Vishnu Vinod, Praveen Dubey, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash, Vishal Nishad