Chennai Super Kings (CSK) arrive at a venue where the ball flies off the bat, to face a Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) side that has made a strong start at home to their title defence. This, after a bruising beginning to IPL 2026 for CSK, whose bowlers have been taken apart in back-to-back defeats.

At one point, the RCB-CSK rivalry was too one-sided to be called a rivalry, with its appeal driven by passionate fan bases and the superstar captains they had. On the field, CSK held sway with a 69% win record in the first 29 meetings. RCB are slowly changing that trend, winning four of the last six games, including a landmark win at Chepauk last season, their first there since 2008. Their current winning streak against CSK is three matches; RCB have never won four in a row against them.

The contrast between the sides is stark. CSK attempted to address the imbalance in their batting order at the auction but the early returns have been underwhelming. RCB, on the other hand, look settled and formidable. The defending champions signalled their intent by chasing 202 inside 16 overs in the first game of this season against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

CSK, meanwhile, scored 209 against Punjab Kings, only for it to be chased down with ease, and managed just 127 in their season opener against Rajasthan Royals, a total that was overhauled with nearly eight overs to spare. Across both games, CSK's bowlers picked up only seven wickets.

If CSK are to mount a challenge, it may require beating RCB at their own game by embracing an aggressive approach at a ground where bowlers are shown no mercy. Among all venues to have hosted at least 15 IPL matches since 2023, the average run rate of 9.73 at the Chinnaswamy is the third highest.

RCB return to action on Sunday after a seven-day break, whereas CSK will want to quickly forget the first two games and figure out their best combination to stay competitive in this contest.

Key question

Team news

Josh Hazlewood was unavailable against SRH, but his replacement Jacob Duffy starred with a Player-of-the-Match performance. On match eve, Jitesh Sharma gave nothing away on Hazlewood's availability against CSK. So if Hazlewood remains unfit, RCB could go with the same side that started the season with a big win.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Tim David, 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Abhinandan Singh, 11 Jacob Duffy, 12 Suyash Sharma

CSK started with only two overseas players - Noor Ahmad and Matt Henry - against PBKS. Their bowling lacks teeth, so to give it a boost they could play one or both of Jamie Overton and Akeal Hosein. However, two spinners at Chinnaswamy might be risky. So replacing Noor with a quick in Gurjapneet Singh is an option as well. Dewald Brevis, who missed the first two games, remains doubtful.

Chennai Super Kings (probable): 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 3 Ayush Mhatre, 4 Sarfaraz Khan, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Kartik Sharma, 7 Prashant Veer, 8 Matt Henry, 9 Noor Ahmad/Gurjapneet Singh, 10 Anshul Kamboj/Jamie Overton, 11 Khaleel Ahmed, 12 Rahul Chahar/Akeal Hosein

In the spotlight - Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sanju Samson

With 199 wickets, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the IPL's second highest wicket-taker. Against SRH, he showed control in both the powerplay and the death overs. With the new ball, his figures read 2-0-15-0. At the back end, he went 2-0-16-1 even as SRH plundered 46 runs in the last four overs. Last season, he bagged 17 wickets, and success for Bhuvneshwar again, especially with Hazlewood out, could go a long way in RCB keeping the opposition quiet.

There was a lot of hype and anticipation as Sanju Samson headed to CSK. He has been labelled as MS Dhoni's successor at the franchise, where he arrived on the back of successive scores of 97*, 89 and 89 for India at the T20 World Cup. But two games in, Samson has fallen for 6 and 7 to start this IPL season. He now heads to the batting-friendly Chinnaswamy and will hope the conditions help unlock his fluency.

Stats and trivia

• Bhuvneshwar holds the edge in his match-up against Samson. The RCB quick has conceded 120 runs to the CSK opener at an average of 30 and a strike rate of 126.31.
  But Samson's opening partner Ruturaj Gaikwad has a much stronger record against Bhuvneshwar. The CSK captain has scored 69 runs off 48 balls against Bhuvneshwar without being dismissed.

• Since IPL 2025, CSK have had the lowest run rate of 8.70 in the powerplay. By contrast, RCB have been second-best with 9.94.

• With 35 totals of 200-plus at Chinnaswamy in the IPL, it tops the list of grounds with most such scores (minimum 15 matches played). That includes the all-time highest IPL total of 287, by SRH in 2024.

Pitch and conditions

In the last six IPL matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the chasing team has won four times, with 200-plus being chased down in the last three of those six games. So expect a high-scoring match again on Sunday. It's expected to be partly cloudy in Bengaluru on Sunday evening, with temperatures around 26 degrees Celsius.

Quotes

"We are not defending, we are chasing another title. We are hungry like we were last year. Lots of people have forgotten that we are champions. This is a new season and we go one game at a time. But we have that confidence that we have achieved something. With that confidence, we are just going forward."
Jitesh Sharma feels the tag of defending champions is irrelevant

Next three fixtures

Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Apr 10: vs Rajasthan Royals, Guwahati
Apr 12: vs Mumbai Indians, Mumbai
Apr 15: vs Lucknow Super Giants, Bengaluru

Chennai Super Kings
Apr 11: vs Delhi Capitals, Chennai
Apr 14: vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai
Apr 18: vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Hyderabad