Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL 2026 clash at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. Both teams have gone in unchanged for the game.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru, led by Rajat Patidar, will bat first on what is expected to be a high scoring surface. Kohli will also be in focus as he eyes a major personal milestone, needing 14 runs to surpass his own record of 1,159 runs against a single opponent and set a new mark against CSK.

“We will bowl first. Obviously, high scoring ground. Looks like a good pitch, there's going to be some runs. We'll look to restrict them as much as possible. MS is getting back slowly, sometimes it takes time; if he's ready to play, it'll be soon. The first game was disappointing, but our batting was much better in the second game. Everyone is feeling confident. Same team for us,” Gaikwad said at the toss.

Patidar said RCB were prepared to adapt despite preferring to bowl first.

“We were looking to bowl first, but it looks like a hard pitch, so we're happy to bat. It's a fresh wicket. The boys played well in the last game and we're looking to continue here. The way everyone played in the last game was tremendous, everyone had clarity in their role and they are high in confidence. We're going with the same side,” he said.

Teams:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy.

Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (w), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Matt Henry, Khaleel Ahmed.