Big picture: Who are CSK's death bowlers?
Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, the two teams that finished at the bottom in IPL 2025, have a new look in IPL 2026 after hitting the revamp button. Sanju Samson and Ravindra Jadeja have swapped teams. Riyan Parag has taken over as RR's captain, while Ruturaj Gaikwad, whose 2025 season was cut short by injury, has taken back the CSK captaincy from MS Dhoni, who is likely to miss the first two weeks of this season with a calf injury.
CSK will also have to contend with an injury to Dewald Brevis; head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the South Africa batter will miss the team's opening match.
Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana are both gone at RR. Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar and Deepak Hooda are all gone at CSK. Having two overseas spinners messed with RR's balance in the previous season, but they have remedied that by trading Jadeja in and acquiring Ravi Bishnoi at the auction. RR also have express pace in Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger and Adam Milne.
CSK's bowling attack doesn't appear as balanced, especially following the withdrawal of Nathan Ellis due to injury. They signed Spencer Johnson, who is working his way back from injury himself, as a replacement. Matt Henry does a job for New Zealand across phases but may not be a first-choice option in most other IPL teams.
CSK have options in Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Zak Foulkes and Akeal Hosein, but the problem is all of them specialise in bowling in the powerplay. Noor Ahmad, who was the highest wicket-taker among spinners in IPL 2025, can man the middle overs, but who will bowl at the death?
Key question
Team news: Shanaka or Ferreira for RR?
Without Sam Curran, who has been ruled out of the season with injury, RR will have to pick between South African allrounder Donovan Ferreira, who was traded in from Delhi Capitals, and Sri Lankan allrounder Dasun Shanaka. They may also have to choose between left-armer Nandre Burger and Adam Milne, who is reportedly fit after missing the T20 World Cup with injury.
Rajasthan Royals (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 3 Riyan Parag (capt), 4 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Donnovan Ferreira/Dasun Shanaka, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Sandeep Sharma, 12 Nandre Burger/Adam Milne
Faf du Plessis, Abhinav Mukund and Gaurav Sundararaman preview the season for CSK, especially around their bowling attack
In Dhoni's injury absence, Samson is set to keep wickets and open the batting with Gaikwad. There are questions around the No. 3 spot, with Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel and Sarfaraz Khan all in contention. There's a good chance that Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer could debut together in a new-look line-up. While Noor and Henry are certainties in the bowling attack, CSK might have to choose between the left-arm spin of Akeal Hosein and the pace of Jamie Overton, depending on conditions in Guwahati.
Chennai Super Kings (probable): 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Ayush Mhatre/Urvil Patel/Sarfaraz Khan, 4 Matt Short, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Kartik Sharma, 7 Prashant Veer, 8 Jamie Overton/Akeal Hosein, 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Khaleel Ahmed, 12 Anshul Kamboj/Gurjapneet Singh/Ramakrishna Ghosh
In the spotlight: Ravindra Jadeja and Prashant Veer
After middling returns for CSK in 2025 and the captaincy turmoil prior to that, Ravindra Jadeja returns to RR as their Rockstar. Jadeja is 37, and no longer active in T20Is, but his control with the ball in the middle overs and pace-hitting with the bat at the death could give RR the balance that they missed in the previous season. He could have a bigger role to play with the ball against a right-hand heavy CSK line-up.
Prashant Veer, much like Jadeja, darts the ball into right-hand batters at a quickish pace, but unlike Jadeja, is willing to bowl in the powerplay. Though Veer has played only nine official T20s so far, and a handful of games in the UPT20 league, CSK's team management believes he can make the step up from Noida Super Kings to Chennai Super Kings. He also comes with the domestic reputation of being a six-hitter down the order.
Stats and trivia
Monday's game will be CSK's first without Dhoni or Suresh Raina.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hit 24 sixes in 122 balls in IPL 2025 - a six every five balls on average.
Jadeja is 15 away from 4000 runs in T20s. He is set to become the second Indian, after Hardik Pandya, to complete the double of 4000 runs and 200 wickets in T20s.
Watch out for Archer vs Samson again. The England quick has dismissed Samson three times in six T20 innings while giving away 63 runs off 37 balls.
Pitch and conditions: Rain in the air in Guwahati
A fresh pitch is likely to be used for Monday's fixture, and it was under the covers due to rain on the eve of the match. There's forecast for rain on the afternoon of the game as well, but it might clear up by the evening. Wet weather curtailed RR's practice session on Sunday.
Next three fixtures
Rajasthan Royals
April 4: vs Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad
April 7: vs Mumbai Indians in Guwahati
April 10: vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru in GuwahatiChennai Super Kings
April 3: vs Punjab Kings in Chennai
April 5: vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Bengaluru
April 11: vs Delhi Capitals in Chennai
