Match 7 of the 2026 IPL season will be played between the Chennai Super Kings and the Punjab Kings on 3rd April 2026 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Here’s our preview and prediction for the game.
CSK will play their first home game of the season at Chepauk against last season’s finalists, the Punjab Kings. While CSK started the new season with a defeat against the Rajasthan Royals, PBKS won their first game against the Gujarat Titans.
Playing without their former captain and the experienced MS Dhoni, the CSK batters couldn’t get going against the tight, disciplined bowling of the Rajasthan Royals. They lost too many wickets in the powerplay and couldn’t quite recover from the early setback. If not for Jamie Overton’s lone effort (43 off 36 balls) down the order, CSK couldn’t have gotten past a total of 80-90 let alone 120. In the end, CSK managed to set a target of 127 but it was never going to be enough to defend on a decent Guwahati pitch. Nandre Burger, Jofra Archer and Ravindra Jadeja bowled superbly to end with two wickets each for the hosts.
In response, RR reached the total comfortably in 12 overs with both the openers performing with the bat. Youngster Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored a quickfire half-century while Yashasvi Jaiswal stayed until the end to ensure victory for the Royals without much fuss.
CSK had a bad day at the office with the bat with none of their top order batters performing while the RR bowlers deserve a lot of credit for bowling good lines and lengths and not letting them score. With MS Dhoni out for a period of two weeks, CSK needs Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad to take up the responsibility of guiding a relatively young team with their experience.
As for their opponents, Punjab Kings started this season on a winning note. Playing their opener against the Gujarat Titans on a tricky wicket, having won the toss they put GT in to bat. Shubman Gill (39 off 27 balls) and Jos Buttler (38 off 33 balls) set the ball rolling with Glenn Philips’ late cameo taking the Titans to a competitive 162/6. Vijaykumar Vyashak (3/34) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/28) bowled well for the Kings.
In response, the top order fired for PBKS with debutant Cooper Connolly (72 not out off 44 balls) and Prabhsimran Singh (37 off 24 balls) starting well. However, PBKS kept losing wickets and the chase got a bit tough but Connolly kept his head and led them to victory in the end. Prasidh Krishna (3/29) was the pick of the GT bowlers with others chipping in and playing their part in a hard-fought battle.
Coming to the CSK vs PBKS encounter now, the Chennai pitch is a high-scoring one but it does get slow in the second innings and also assists the spinners. Moreover, the PBKS batting being also stronger as compared to CSK, this could be another tough outing for the Chennai franchise. If CSK want to win this, they will need their openers to make a good start and then maybe they could have a decent chance as PBKS have a lengthy batting order capable of chasing big targets with considerable ease.
Looking at the combination of both teams and the form of the players, PBKS looks a better team on paper and hence we will favour them for a win here as well.
Fantasy XI: Sanju Samson (wk), Cooper Connolly, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shivam Dube, Marcus Stoinis, Jamie Overton, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Noor Ahmad, Arshdeep Singh.
Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Winner’s Prediction: Punjab Kings
Two teams coming off the back of losses in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026…
This article contains information regarding the organisations enjoying a strong branding presence across the assets…
This article contains information regarding the organisations enjoying a strong branding presence across the assets…
Football over the years has given us some of the most silken, skillful, elegant, and…
Five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians have announced a renewal of their decade-long…
Match 5 of the 2026 IPL season will be played between the Lucknow Super Giants…