IPL 2026 Today's Match: RR vs CSK playing 11, batters vs bowlers matchups

CSK enter IPL 2026 opener with injury concerns: Ellis out, Dhoni sidelined for two weeks with calf strain, and Brevis ruled out of RR clash with side strain.

The inaugural champions, Rajasthan Royals (RR), kick off their campaign in IPL 2026 today at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati as they host five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag won the toss for the match and invited Ruturaj Gaikwad-led CSK to bat first.  After finishing as the bottom two teams in the points table, both RR and CSK will be looking for a key turnaround this season.

IPL 2026: RR vs CSK playing 11:  RR playing 11: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Brijesh Sharma  Impact players: Donovan Ferreira, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Sushant Mishra, Tushar Deshpande  CSK playing 11: Sanju Samson (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Ayush Mhatre, Matthew Short, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed  Impact players: Sarfaraz Khan, Prashanth Veer, Rahul Chahar, Gurjapneet Singh, Ramakrishna Ghosh 

 

RR will have a strong batting line-up to boast, just like in IPL 2025, and with the addition of players like Ravindra Jadeja and Dasun Shanaka, they will hope to overcome their middle-order concerns. While RR’s pace bowling looks complete, they may have some trouble finding the right combination in the spin department.

 

 

CSK, on the other hand, look slightly unsettled due to injuries and squad changes. They first lost the services of Nathan Ellis due to a hamstring injury before MS Dhoni got sidelined for the first two weeks due to a calf strain and Dewald Brevis was ruled out of the RR clash due to side strain a day before the match.  However, CSK still have a good batting and spin attack to lead them this season; their only concern will be who to rely on as the death bowler.

 

But before the two sides finally take the ground, let’s take a look at the captaincy records of both skippers, their expected playing 11 combinations and key player match-ups for the game.

Riyan Parag’s captaincy record in IPL (RR)

• Matches: 8
• Wins: 2
• Losses: 6
• N/R: 0
• Win percentage: 25%

Ruturaj Gaikwad's captaincy record in IPL (CSK)

• Matches: 19
• Wins: 8
• Losses: 11
• N/R: 0
• Win percentage: 42.10%

 

RR squad for IPL 2026:

 

Aman Rao, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira, Lhuan de Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Riyan Parag (C), Dasun Shanaka, Adam Milne, Brijesh Sharma, Jofra Archer, Kuldeep Sen, Kwena Maphaka, Nandre Burger, Ravi Bishnoi, Sandeep Sharma, Sushant Mishra, Tushar Deshpande, Vignesh Puthur, Yash Punja, Yudhvir Charak

 

CSK squad for IPL 2026:

 

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

IPL 2026: RR vs CSK key player battles

RR batters vs CSK bowlers

 

Batter	Bowler	Runs	Balls	Outs	Dots	4s	6s	SR	Avg
Yashasvi Jaiswal	Khaleel Ahmed	58	28	2	11	11	1	207.1	29
Yashasvi Jaiswal	Rahul Chahar	22	18	1	8	2	1	122.2	22
Riyan Parag	Khaleel Ahmed	31	24	2	10	3	1	129.1	15.5
Shimron Hetmyer	Khaleel Ahmed	44	27	1	9	3	3	163	44
Shimron Hetmyer	Rahul Chahar	36	29	2	11	2	2	124.1	18
Ravindra Jadeja	Khaleel Ahmed	18	17	1	7	1	1	105.9	18
Dhruv Jurel	Khaleel Ahmed	12	9	1	3	1	1	133.3	12

 

CSK batters vs RR bowlers

 

Batter	Bowler	Runs	Balls	Outs	Dots	4s	6s	SR	Avg
Sanju Samson	Jofra Archer	72	48	3	18	6	3	150	24
Sanju Samson	Sandeep Sharma	65	44	2	16	7	2	147.7	32.5
Ruturaj Gaikwad	Sandeep Sharma	54	41	2	17	6	1	131.7	27
Ruturaj Gaikwad	Jofra Archer	39	28	2	11	4	1	139.2	19.5
Shivam Dube	Sandeep Sharma	41	26	1	8	3	3	157.7	41
Shivam Dube	Ravindra Jadeja	28	23	1	9	2	1	121.7	28

 

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