IPL 2026: CSK tame bottom-placed and winless KKR at Chepauk
What's the story
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defended their competitive total of 192/5 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 22 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season on Tuesday. The match was held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) in Chennai. Sanju Samson, Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis were the key contributors for CSK with the bat. In response, KKR had a dismal outing with the bat to remain winless after 5 games this season. KKR scored 160/7 in 20 overs.
CSK
How did CSK's innings pan out?
CSK lost skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad early (25/1). Samson and Mhatre then added a stand worth 47 off 22 balls. Brevis joined Samson next and the duo put on 39 runs. KKR spinners did well in the middle overs but Brevis and Sarfaraz Khan kept the scorecard moving. They shared a 51-run stand for the 4th wicket. KKR hit back and made sure CSK were kept under a score of 200.
Bowling highlights
Summary of the KKR bowlers
Sunil Narine played a vital role in breaking CSK's momentum during the middle overs. Narine returned with impressive figures of 1/21 in his four overs. Pacer Kartik Tyagi ended with figures of 2/35. Vaibhav Arora was costly and went for 55 runs from his 4 overs. He picked one wicket. Anukul Roy did well. He claimed 1/21 from three overs. Varun Chakravarthy bowled three overs and went wicketless (0/26). Cameron Green was abysmal. He conceded 30 runs off two overs.
Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad continues to struggle in IPL 2026
CSK skipper Gaikwad fell for just 7 runs against KKR. KKR spinner Roy dismissed Gaikwad in the 3rd over. From 5 matches this season, Gaikwad owns a paltry 63 runs at an average of 12.60. His strike rate reads 105. The CSK skipper has hit a solitary six in addition to 5 fours. He has faced 60 deliveries across these 5 games. His scores in IPL 2026 read: 6, 28, 7, 15 and 7.
Samson
Samson completes 400 IPL fours with 48-run knock
Samson shone with a neat 32-ball 48. He hit three sixes and four fours. With this effort, Samson raced to a tally of 4,889 runs from 182 IPL games (177 innings) at 31.33. Notably, he completed 400 fours in the IPL with his 4th four. Versus KKR, Samson owns 590 runs from 23 matches at 29.5. Overall in T20s, the versatile Samson has clocked 8,585 runs at 30.66.
Duo
Key numbers for Mhatre and Brevis
Mhatre punctured KKR with a gutsy 38 off 17 balls. He hit six fours and two sixes. In 12 IPL games, he owns 411 runs at 34.25. This season, he has managed 171 runs from 5 matches at 34.20. Brevis stood tall with a fine 41. He smashed four fours and two sixes. In 137 T20s, Brevis has amassed 3,281 runs from 126 innings at 29.03. 496 of his T20 runs have come in the IPL at 29.17.
Information
Sarfaraz shows his mettle
Sarfaraz has been solid for CSK since coming to the side. He scored a valuable 23 off 18 balls, hitting a four and two sixes. In 5 matches, he owns 122 runs this season at 30.50. He has struck at 182-plus.
Narine
Narine continues to shine against CSK
Narine picked 1/21 from his 4 overs. The veteran West Indian, who is the most successful spinner against CSK in the IPL, raced to 27 wickets against them at 20.74. At the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Narine has picked 12 wickets from 9 matches against CSK at 18. Overall in the IPL, he has 195 wickets at 25.76. Meanwhile, he picked his 616th wicket in T20s.
Chase
KKR lose their way in the chase
KKR lost Finn Allen (1) early on as Narine scored a 17-ball 24. Thereafter, skipper Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi added a 50-run stand off 31 balls. Raghuvanshi departed at a crucial juncture before CSK hit back with double wickets in Noor Ahmad's over. He dismissed Rahane and Cameron Green. KKR also saw a struggling Rinku Singh perish early. By then the match was done and dusted. Rovman Powell and Ramandeep Singh saved KKR the blushes with a 63-run stand.
Allen
Should KKR drop a struggling Finn Allen?
Allen perished for a score of 1 from 3 balls, getting out to Anshul Kamboj. In 5 matches this season, Allen has managed only 81 runs at an average of 16.20. His strike rate reads 192.85. Allen started the season well, scoring 38 runs against Mumbai Indians and then smashing a 7-ball 28 versus SRH. However, his one dimensional approach has led to his downfall. His next three scores read 6, 9 and 1.
Duo
Rahane and Raghuvanshi get starts
Rahane struggled to find momentum before hitting two sixes. He ended up with a score of 28 from 22 balls. In 203 IPL games, Rahane owns 5,184 runs at 30.67 from 188 innings. In 5 matches this season, he owns 152 runs at 38. Raghuvanshi scored a 19-ball 27. He slammed a six and three fours. In IPL 2026, Raghuvanshi now has 182 runs from 5 matches at 45.50.
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Rinku and Green's horror IPL 2026 season
Rinku perished for a 12-ball 6. In IPL 2026, the southpaw owns 78 runs from 4 innings at 26 (SR: 120). Green bagged a first-ball duck. In 5 games this season, he averages 14. He owns 56 runs with 32* being his best score.
Powell
Powell surpasses 6,000 runs in T20s
Powell scored a fighting 22-ball 31*. He smashed 2 sixes and a four. The 17th run from Powell's blade saw him complete 6,000 runs in T20s. He has amassed 6,014 runs from 331 matches (297 innings) at 25.7. Notably, Powell is closing in on 400 T20 sixes (298). In the IPL, the West Indian owns 435 runs from 32 matches at 21.75.
Noor
Noor gets past 50 IPL wickets
Noor picked 3/21 from his 4 overs. Notably, the left-arm spinner surpassed 50 wickets. Playing his 42nd match in the IPL, former Gujarat Titans spinner Noor completed 50 wickets with Rahane's dismissal. He now owns 52 wickets at an average of 23.75. For CSK, the Afghan spinner has raced to 28 wickets from 19 matches at 20.57, as per ESPNcricinfo. The remaining of his 24 wickets came for former side GT at 27.45.
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Summary of the CSK bowlers
Khaleel Ahmed bagged 1/24 from 3.5 overs. Anshul Kamboj picked 2/32 from his 4 overs. Spinner Akeal Hosein finished with 1/26 from his 4 overs. Jamie Overton bowled three overs and clocked 0/32. Gurjapneet Singh conceded 23 runs from 1.1 overs.
Do you know?
A look at the points table
CSK are placed 8th with two wins and three defeats from 5 matches. They own 4 points. KKR have lost four games from 5 matches this season (NR: 1). They are bottom of the pile.
Records
Unwanted records for KKR
As per Cricbuzz, for the first time, KKR remain winless after the first five games of an IPL season. KKR lost their 9th match against CSK at Chepauk from 13 meetings. CSK also beat KKR for the 21st time in IPL from 32 meetings.